Chapter 17
It was too early in the morning when Maenera woke them up. She was already dressed for the day, riding leathers replacing her usual dresses.
"Wake up, brothers. There is much to do today." Viserys heard his sister say while she opened the curtains. They didn't question her, as usual, he and his brother,both, just groaned and got out of bed.
"What are we doing today?"
"We are going to Dragonstone, Viserys is going to claim a dragon."
"Excuse me?" Viserys said.
"You are excused. Now come on you need to dress in your riding leathers. Viserys do your leathers still fit you?"
"Yes, yes they do." Viserys responded annoyed. Even though he didn't have a dragon at the moment he made sure he had riding leathers at hand. He never wears them but he has them." Why would I need those garments now, even if we go to Dragonstone there will be at least two days by ship."
"Oh... We are not taking the ship, we are going on dragon back."
"It will be a tight fit if all three of us are going on Caraxes back." Daemon who had been silent till now, spoke.
"Only you two are going on Caraxes, I have my own dragon."
"You know what? Stop for a moment we can't leave like this. We have previous engagements that need to be taken care of today, and even if we ignore that, I do not want to claim a dragon! And speaking of which, since when do you have a dragon if your own?"
"I had Shrykos since I was a babe. You WILL claim a dragon because the Velaryon's are getting impertinent, and while we were waiting for them to make a decision, Corlys took Laena in the middle of the night and left for Dragonstone to claim a dragon. And the only engagement you had today was with Rhaenys, and it the light of certain events I just mentioned, that can wait."
"Rhaenys wants to go to war?" Daemon asked and he saw the fire in his eyes.
"Not exactly. Viserys scared her the other day. The families are, in their minds equal footed, they have Meleys and Seasmoke, and we have Caraxes and Syrax. They are trying to intimidate us into giving into their demands."
"Obviously that won't fucking happen." Daemon said and he couldn't help but agree.
"Laena would be a strong dragonrider and if it wasn't for her parents, I would let her claim a dragon, but we cannot afford this now. We need to get there before they arrive on Dragonstone."
"Let me guess, you already have plans on how to squash this little silent rebellion of theirs?" Viserys asked. He was proud of his sister and a little scared of her. Just yesterday she was unconscious, bleeding and sprouting nonsense. Now she was looking like a warrior queen ready to take over the world.
"Of course I do dear brother. Divide and conquer. You two go ahead through the passages, saddle Caraxes and take to the skys. I will meet you in the air."
***
"I am a little disappointed in Rhaenys." Viserys said to his brother while they were making their way to the Dragon pit.
"Well, I am fucking angry. We should execute the lot of them for this. They have the audacity of trying to steal a a dragon."
"You heard what Vaegon said, you need to work on your impulsiveness, Daemon. Our sister didn't say that we will kill them, she said that we will divide them."
"She is going to break their family apart, that is clear, the question is how?" Daemon said and Viserys didn't have an answer for him. He himself was a little confused of how his sister is going to manage that. What he did know is that he was going to claim a dragon today.
"How are you feeling? Regarding the dragon claiming, I mean." Daemon asked
"Happy, sad, angry, melancholic. When Balerion died he left a hole in my heart. The pain of his passing hadn't lessen over the years. Is still there, like an open wound that refuses to heal. I feel like I am about to replace him, bu the blood in my veins sings at the possibility of taking to the skys again, to feel that bond forming. It feels good and bad at the same time.
His brother didn't responded, they just continued in silence until they got to the Dragon pit. Caraxes already sensed his rider and was out of his cave making his way towards Daemon, the chains clinking in his wake. Daemon didn't say anything just put his hands on his snout and braced his forehead on the dragon.
"Skorkydoso emagon ao issare valītsos? Iksi jāre naejot sōvegon tubī. Ñuha lēkia iksis jāre lēda īlva." (How have you been, boy? We are going to fly today. My brother is coming with us.) His brother said and Caraxes turned his head and looked at him questioningly. He let a series of of sounds at which daemon hummed in agreement and the beast lowered himself to the ground so they could climb.
"Come on, Viserys." They both made their way to the saddle and his brother gave the command."Sōves, Caraxes."
The dragon took to the sky. It was an amazing feeling, to feel the wind on his face. A roar was heard and their sister and her dragon suddenly appeared beside them. Viserys understood now, why he hadn't seen the dragon approaching. Shrykos was all white, with pink membrane on her wings, and red eyes, a series of spikes atop of her head and down to her neck and body. She was blending perfectly with the sky, making it easy to loose her between clouds. She was the perfect reflection of her rider. The dragon was a little smaller than Caraxes but fast, their sister and her Dragon were flying circles around Caraxes. The Blood Wyrm snapped his teeth at them and began to fly faster trying to catch them. And so it began an impromptu race towards Dragonstone.
***
When they arrived at Dragonstone Viserys' heart was in his throat. He was extremely nervous, the ride here seemed extremely short. He wasn't ready.
"Which dragon did you say I am going to claim?" Viserys asked his sister, hopefully it will be a smaller one, a kind one, Silverwing sounded like a good choice.
"I didn't. In which direction do you feel a pull?" Viserys thought a little and then pointed towards one of the big caves at the side of the island. He saw his sister nodding." That is Vhagar's cave."
"Vhagar? I can't claim Vhagar!"
"Yes, you can."
"No, I can't! The old beast will eat me alive! I'm not going. You can't make me!"
"For fucks sake Viserys, you claimed Balerion when you were young! He was called the Black Dread for a reason and you managed to bond with him." His brother said already fed up with his denials.
"I was young and stupid then!"
"And now you are old and stupid. Go and claim the damn dragon." His brother said pushing him towards the caves.
"Any advice sister?"
"I don't know. Try to be respectful?"
" Oh my gods, I'm going to die!" Viserys said but began to walk along the beach in the direction of the cave." Be respectful, she said. I can be respectful."
He entered the caves and suddenly he was face to face with the dragon. He forgot how big the beast actually was. She was looking at him like she was waiting for something. Viserys was petrified, he couldn't make his mouth work. She seemed fed up with the wait and began to growl. Without any thought he pulled his hand back and smacked her on the snout.
"Don't growl at me. You need to be patient." He said and afterwards realized what he'd done. The dragon reared her head back, surprised at the smack and began to look at him more closely and to sniff around his person. Well, this was it, this is how he is going to die. At least he knows that Daemon and Maenera are going to take care of Rhaenyra. But the beast didn't open her maw to bath him in flames, instead she lowered her head, touched her snout to his chest and began purring. He tentatively put one of his hand on her and began petting her. Slowly the great beast lowered her body to the ground and pushed him slightly in the direction of the saddle. He climbed on top of Vhagar, the saddle was old and and it looked like it has seen better days, but for a first flight will have to do.
"Sōves, Vhagar!" He commanded and Vhagar let out a rare and lunched herself out of the cave and ito the sky. He felt then the bond forming. Warmth enveloping his entire body. He coudn help but laugh, laugh and shout. He saw his brother and sister appearing at either side of him both having big proud smiles on their faces.
***
After they finished their flight, Daemon, Viserys and Maenera, made their way to the castle. Maenera said that the Velaryon ship will be docking this evening just before the sunset. So all three of them were waiting, now. His sister urged Viserys to send a raven to the Capital summoning Rhaenys and her son to Dragonstone. They all agreed that it will be better if all family was present at the confrontation.
"You haven't told us what you are planning to do with Rhaenys and her brood." Daemon said
"We are going to take her children away."
"What, how? Isn't that a little harsh? Maybe just take her title way."
"We can't take her title away now. If we do, without her giving it up on fer own accord the realm will know that there is discontent between the royal family and their kin."
"And if we take her children away, the realm will not know that there is discontent? If we do that there will be a full blown war."
"We won't threw them in the dungeon. We will offer Laena the position of lady in waiting and Laenor to be squired. I will take Laena and you Laenor. They won't be prisoners in the literal sense. "
"The realm will see it as a boon given to Rhaenys, for her help during the funeral. "
"Yes, and Corlys will be to greedy to realize the motive behind this. He will see it as an opportunity for Laena to get closer to Viserys. "
"And for Rhaenys and Corlys?"
"Corlys will present soon in one of the council meetings, the problems in Stepstones. If we do not help, like he anticipates, and he wages war alone, and he wins the spoils of war will go to him. If he controles the Stepstones he will have control over the Narrow Sea. So we do the opposite, we send some men, and supplies, we support it with the bare minimum and leave him empty his coffers and tire his men "
"And so their children will be with us, Corlys and probably his brother will be in Stepstones playing at war and Rhaenys will be left alone on Driftmark to rule." Viserys continued her line of thought.
"Yes, and we will have our hands clean, Viserys will be seen as a benevolent King that he is, giving boons to the family that helped him in his time of need, and Corlys blinded by his greed will probably realize too late what is happening. Rhaenys will probably interject, she is neither stupid nor blind, but she can't argue with her husband's decision."
A roar was heard in the distance. The Velaryons have arrived.