175
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299 AC
Blackwater Bay
Eragon Targaryen
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"There it is." I gaze off over the water and at the Red Keep as we sail closer and closer to the almost undefended city. "Less than a thousand men left defending her after the riot that breached the Red Keep." Well, only the front door but it's very impressive the starving common folk managed to get that far... feels like they had support from the reports of them being heavily equipped.
That will need to change, we won't be having another Maegor impaled onto his thrown event because the common folk get too excited. They will need to be disarmed very quickly while the Vale army is still here for support. It would be a nightmare if when we summoned the Lords and Ladies of Westeros to come to bend the knee and the common folk revolted and tried to kill all the noble families.
"Stop acting like it's the first time you have seen it, it spoils the mood for those of us who have not flown over it a bunch of times." Daenerys speaks up a little heatedly as not only I saw the Red Keep before her but I also tried to make her stay behind.
I wanted her nearby to watch over all of the babes but she was not having that, the babes will be sailing over in a few weeks. I will fly to Dragonstone every now and then until they make the trip to check on them but it was not easy to split from them. Mother stayed with them along with half of our men to defend the island which is honestly a bit too much but I would rather be safe than sorry.
I also brought the rogue elements like Varys and only the most trusted from the Summer Isles are allowed even into the tower where the babes are being kept. I knew one day I would split for a time with my children but even with all the preparations done it stings. Shaena staying behind also helped ease my reluctance as well.
"Relax my Love, soon the Red Keep will be reclaimed and we will hang the banners we have been holding onto for many moons in preparation. We outnumber the enemy by a large number and we are slipping more into the secret tunnels to attack inside of the Keep than they have total. This will be over soon, they will be butchered like the animals they are and we will have given them Fire and Blood as our words say when we torch their corpses." The 'plan' spinning around in my mind almost out of control as I try to figure out ways it can go wrong.
They are starving and likely do not even want to fight and are going to be hit hard and fast from within their fortifications. They stand no chance of surviving after we begin the attack and then we will fortify the castle with our own men. Blocking off the tunnels for now and then letting the Vale in to help get control over the city with the food they have prepared.
The Tyrells sent wagons upon wagons as 'gifts' to House Targaryen and it almost makes me like them. They have sat everything out and are even going to solve the food problem that was going to strain us in the coming months with the limited supply we had. I did not want to ask for any from anyone and was planning on using the riches we brought from the Summer Isles to pay for some food. But getting to instead save my own coin and letting the Tyrells solve the issue is something of a dream... but I will keep my eyes and ears open regardless.
Mother told me about the Queen of Thorns and that she will want something regardless of it seemingly being in goodwill toward the rightful rulers returning. I can't imagine what they could want other than maybe plans for a betrothal to one of the Targaryen babes. But we will see in the coming months when Ravens fly to command the Nobel families to come to bend the knee.
I do so hope that they do not give me a reason to fly out on Arrax and burn a few castles in the night. He is not big enough to stop hundreds of arrows from likely turning me into a corpse upon his back but during the night...
They would never see us coming until it is too late.
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299 AC
Kingslanding
Cersei Lannister
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Pacing back and forth in the throne room I bite my lips as I hear the distant sound of fighting and look around not finding a lick of resolve among the men. The only one that looks ready to do battle is Joffrey and he is sitting on the throne with his hammer gripped tightly in his hands. If only I could take up a blade myself and hack and slash away these damn Summer Islanders who snuck into the castle. They made it past the outside defenses' that now are filled with arrows from behind.
The sound of clashing steel grows louder and I come to a stop at the foot of the throne, all eyes going to the door with my own. Death, so much death outside the door as I hear men scream their last upon being stabbed or slashed. Just when it goes silent I hear loud dragging that only gets increasingly louder.
With a thunderous bang, the door shifts, and a loud crack echo's in the throne room as men start anxiously shifting in place. It is soon joined by another kicking up dust from the ceiling with each mighty ram of the no doubt Targaryen men's battering ram.
I clench my fists and turn to look at my son at the top of the throne seeing him wide-eyed and the hammer dropped from his hand. I did not hear the clatter of it as it hit the ground behind me at the bottom of the stairs but it almost took out my legs. But the weirdest part is his eyes are not on the door but instead on the window.
I turn to the side to look at what he is so surprised at and freeze seeing the head of a scaled beast. Its purple eyes are noticeable through the stained red glass before it pulls its head back and I finally notice it seems to be hanging on the side of the building and gazing in at us. Like a hunter looking at its prey stuck in a trap and wondering how best to dispatch it.
But my thoughts and fear are crushed hearing the doors break open leaving only dread.
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299 AC
Kingslanding
Eragon Targaryen
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"A big one." I joke seeing who can only be Joffrey Baratheon swinging his hammer around in the throne room surrounded by my men. "Step back." I order and the ten or so men taking turns lashing at the Usurpers son with whips stop, they had orders not to kill him.
I wished I was the first into the room but I did not expect them to be barricaded in the throne room of all places. I thought a great many places were where they did their 'final stand' but the throne room was not at the top of the list. Even the Maiden vault is better to fortify as the throne room was designed to be easily accessible but who knows why they picked it. I am just glad that I made it over here from Maegor's holdfast before someone cut the 'King' down.
"Foreign invading savages!" He bellows before swinging his hammer once more but seems tired after presumably swinging it a great many times and misses his target. "I am the KING!" He leans against the hammers handle after slamming the head into the smoothed floor that will now need fixing.
"Not looking very Kingly at the moment, if you have to call out you are the King to remind people then you are not much of one, to begin with." I smile seeing him finally notice me as I walk forward drawing Brightroar. "You can fight me now in your current state and no doubt dies, or I can allow you a night of rest and a 'fair' fight in the morn before the masses." My hopes of a legendary battle to rival the stories of the Trident are crushed seeing him sweaty and heaving like he is about to fall over.
"He will fight in the morn." A woman calls out and I spot her, golden hair and green eyes for some reason sitting on the throne clinging to the armrests made of twisted swords.
"MOTHER! I do not yield to Dragon scum, I will slay him here now!" He bellows and turns his back to me to shout at his Mother making me look at my men wondering if he is an idiot.
"You will undoubtedly die either way it makes no real difference to me, I just thought a show for the common folk would be good for their spirits. They will have full bellies after today and hope for a bright future and it would have been nice to add to that with a nice show of strength. But I can not say I am impressed with what I am seeing, to begin with..." I try to goad him to change his mind, he is actually pretty well built if I had to say but is obviously worn down.
I should have come here when it was discovered the holdfast was unguarded but I thought they might be trying to escape through one of the passages. Yet another reason to have them barred or at least locked up and a need for a key to open them. I nearly got lost trying to find my way back when I heard they where in the throne room.
"He will fight you in th-." The son lifts his hammer looking about ready to sling it at his Mother causing her mouth to snap shut.
"I AM THE KING!" He turns on me with hammer still raised and I have long been waiting for him to try this so I am ready to step back and then run him through with a follow up before he can raise his hammer again. "I will fight you after I have rested." His hammer falls from his hands and I blink in surprise before I smile.
"This is very good." Dying now and bleeding out on my new floor is no different from me killing him with a bigger audience. "I am thinking we fight in the Dragon Pit at first light, a sign of the new Dawn House Targaryen will bring about." He grits his teeth and I smile wider as I wave a hand in his direction.
My men move forward to bind him, we had been prepared to take a great many people hostage but most people are already dead. It seems all the Ladies and young Lords that did not fight were put together in the vault and given poison. The cruel fucks killed all of the people that were either loyal bannermen's families or hostages. A headache I will have to work through but for now I want to try out my new chair.
Watching my men bind up Joffrey I give no further order as I will be keeping him with me until it's time for the match. I will give no chance for him to escape like a snake through a crack, he will get to rest and eat but he will not be allowed to escape.
"It is a pity." I speak up as I close in on the throne with my steps echoing in the dead silent room. "I have heard much about you from quite a few people, my Mother even said there was a time you could have been my Good Sister. But my Father cut that path off as an insult to your overreaching Father.. but it's still a pity." I walk up the surprisingly steep steps toward the woman defyingly lifting her chin as her hands bleed from clenching the sharp edges of the throne.
Coming to a stop I look down on the woman and her golden curls and emerald eyes and see a hint of fear mixed with her defiance. A pity indeed that she is not half the 'Lioness' I was told she was, all the warnings for naught. She is just a scared woman now that reality has come down upon her and she was helpless to do anything.
"Your head will at least look good on my new wall." I smile wider seeing the tiny bit of fear grow as her lips quiver and all her defiance leaks from her as I confirm her death is near.
I suppose I can let her watch her Son be killed before she joins him.