176
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299 AC
Kingslanding
Eragon Targaryen
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Standing in the Dragon Pit I look around at the gathered people that eventually had to be stopped for fear of a riot. Though that did not stop them from awaiting the duel or rather the 'trials' results out on the streets. I am sure the Street of Silk loves this or really hates this as I spotted a swarm like ants on dropped food moving around through the street of whores.
"This might have been a horrible idea." Rhaenyra speaks up from the side, her eyes traveling over the stands around the pit filled with the common folk. "This is likely more people than even the storming of the pit when the Dragons got butchered." I give a half nod as I look up at the dragons perched on the top of the broken dome, lots of people with their heads turned to the skies to see them.
"It was not the wisest decision I have made... but it's been decided and they are also unarmed other than maybe some concealed knives or something. We have two hundred armed and armored men inside the pit circling the edges and two thousand circling the outside. Then the rest of our men keeping the Red Keep secure if we need to pull back to safety... the Vale Knights have also moved into the city and helped establish some order." I have yet to talk in-depth with Lord Royce other than a brief discussion before I was whisked off to matters in the Red Keep.
But I did see Jaime Lannister and that is a growing problem in my mind I have to put aside for the moment. The man undoubtedly has helped House Targaryen more than most living Lords and Knights and that cant be spit upon by executing him immediately. But House Lannister can't be allowed to go on, just like House Baratheon it has been something decided by almost all of House Targaryen that both need to die. We are united on this but Jaime and what he did is something that has been a sore spot as killing him after that shows loyalty to House Targaryen gets one punished.
Even though afterward he went back to his Father, for all we know he could have been aiding us from beside the enemy by doing so. With
"You alright?" Rhaenyra asks and I nod casting my eyes to Shiera who has been off since we saw the Lion dragged into the Keep.
He was given a room that has heavily guarded and 'proper rights' as a Lord and prisoner, it's hard to tell if that pleased or bothered her. She has never been open about the subject of her Father but it's something that everyone knows and will need to be addressed. If not for political reasons than for emotional ones, I would hate to upset her by acting too fast and making a decision. As of now, I am acting regent or whatever title they want to brand me with until this war is over, and so it falls on me to decide what is done.
"I am fine, I am eager to slay the Stag and continue working to put the city to peace." I nod toward one of the guards standing around my family and he bows before walking off. "Let's get this started and then we can clear out of this situation before things can go wrong." Rhaenys grabs my arm as I move to head to the center of the building and I look back at her in confusion.
"Don't do something foolish in a bid to humiliate him... make it quick, no matter how much he hurts today it means little. He is a beaten dog at this point and everyone knows it, this is an execution that is being dressed up." She lets go as I nod, she is not usually one to be anxious and so I will do my best to make it quick.
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299 AC
Kingslanding
Yohn Royce
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Watching the two 'Kings' each stand before each other on the raised stone platform that at one time was for putting on shows with dragons I can't help but shift in my seat. The war is practically over with only Stannis still holding Storms End according to my source, this is one of the last 'battles' before it is put to bed.
I gaze over at the nervous-looking Cersei Lannister who is discreetly in a pair of cuffs after she tried to scratch a guard's eyes out. I heard she tried to seduce the men at her door and upon them denying her she took it as a slight and went for blood. Regardless she is going nowhere and is in her final hours, I am not sure what she is hoping for.
If her son managed to kill Eragon Targaryen then his dragon would come down and munch the victor and then bathe the pit in fire no doubt. The big white beast hanging on the top of a broken pillar that used to hold up the dome is always watching. Its bright purple eyes visible with the sharp contrast against its bone-white scales, and those eyes trained onto the two men on the platform.
"Never thought I would see one." Lord Corbray mutters and I look over to see him eyeing the golden dragon resting just above the rest of the Targaryens as a shield. "Beautiful and terrifying just like the mad men and women who ride them." I give him a sharp look before looking around to see if anyone else heard him but no doubt they did regardless of showing no reaction.
"Best to hold your tongue about the Royal family lest you lose it." I respond evenly not wanting to further breathe life into his insult that would likely see blood drawn.
We are here in support of the dragons, to help them retake the throne even after we helped pull them off of it. Something I never saw coming if I am honest with myself, but also something I am not entirely against. House Royce has a poor history with House Targaryen but has very few conflicts with them. My House could have been descended from the Rough Prince had he bedded his Royce wife but it never happened. But even with that being the case we have never held anything against them until the rebellion and that is where my thoughts have drifted to as of late.
"It seems it's time." Lord Corbray speaks once more and I look to the platform and see both combatants walking toward each other after a horn was blown.
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299 AC
Kingslanding
Joffrey Baratheon
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"I will show you!" My Father slayed a 'Dragon' and I will follow in his footsteps and slay one of my own. "I will show everyone who their rightful king is!" The Targaryen freak in his black-scaled armor does not respond as he draws his blade that should belong to House Lannister my mother's House.
I will see it returned when I take it from the incest-born freaks corpse and then slay the rest of these abominations.
He charges and I ready myself to swing a mighty blow and end his miserable life, my hammer ready and held in both hands. I clench around the handle of my 'Storm breaker' and swing when he gets in range, my mind waiting for the crunch of weak pathetic bones.
But the only thing I hear is the sliding of steel on stone as my opponent uses the speed he built up in his charge to fall onto his back and slide under my blow. I pull down with both hands straining my arms to bring the hammer down upon him but it's too late. A shoulder slams into my chest as he quickly pushes off the ground and pushes me back.
"KILL HIM!" A shout from the crowd is echoed by hundreds of others as the once-silent crowd erupts into screaming.
I managed to pull back my hammer as I stumbled back with a single hand dragging it across the ground. I try to lift it seeing the long Valyrian steel blade swiping at my midsection from my left side. Doing so only manages to get it knocked from my hand as I feel a cold sting from my stomach as the blade cuts through my armor.
"Fuck!" I jumped back and failed to stop the blow but managed to stop the attack from being deeper than it should have.
I am given little time to recover as the blade that almost dealt me a fatal wound is thrust toward my chest.
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299 AC
Kingslanding
Eragon Targaryen
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Hundreds of times I have fought with people on the Summer Isles who use blunted clubs or with a heavy stone tied to the end. Joffrey is not as fast as the men bouncing around in loincloths trying to knock my brain out through my ears. His armor made his first swing slower than I thought it would have been or I would have run him through on my first attack. But being in an awkward position after it soared over me I was left only the chance to shoulder him and break his stance.
He is now on the back foot evident from how I disarmed him as he tried to bring his weapon up to block. A lesser man would have lost a hand in the attempt to show the experience with the weapon that fires up my desire to see this continue.
But there would be no reason to stop when I have an opportunity to end him, I would never hear the end of it if I didn't push my advantage.
Thrusting forward the tip of Brightroar pierces through the breastplate of the Stags armor and I push it all the way through out his back. He reaches out to grab me in a futile attempt to do damage or stop his death but I let go of the blade and jump back. He might not be as strong as the stories of his 'Mighty Father' but I certainly don't want to give him a chance to harm me.
"I will kill you!" A choked voice comes from the fatally wounded and impaled man as he reaches for the hilt of Brightroar and starts to tug at it.
I feel my foot hit something as I step forward now in a better position to try and finish him. I look down for a moment and then back at my opponent struggling to pull free the blade that was once wielded by people with his blood. Reaching down I grab the hammer and heft it up in both hands as I continue my path forward.
"I saw this battle a hundred times in my mind, this or with your Father before he died, and in none of those fights did I see this being how I ended it." I speak up as I watch him fully pull the blade from his chest looking ready to fall over but maintaining his legs under him in a show of impressive willpower.
He finally looks away from the blade he pulled from himself covered in his life's blood as it runs down to the end of the sword and drips onto the ground. He follows my raised arms and then the long shaft of the hammer and comes to a stop at the spiked head of the hammer and I see his body start to give out. Bringing the hammer down, I collapse his helmet and send out a loud clash as his skull is crushed inside the metal and he falls like a sack of grain.
The screaming crowd goes deathly silent as blood pools around Joffrey, the only noise is the hammer hitting the stone floor as I toss it aside. I step forward and retrieve my sword from the weak grip of the corpse with a mix of emotions in my heart. I thought I would feel joy or even contentment after slaying the 'man' that dared to sit on my family's throne. But instead, I feel nothing for the dead body I promptly leave as I head back to my family sitting silently on the side.
It was fast, it was decisive some might say one day... but I would call it a disappointment.