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Daenerys Targaryen
After I woke up, I immediately took to
Drogon's back. Ever since that time hours ago I had been riding him
through the skies. Everything was more peaceful up here where nothing
could get to me. It wouldn't be until we found Jaime Lannister and the
army he had that I would have to concern myself with the world down
below.
The wind whipped my hair and I grinned. Whatever happened
the Iron Throne would be mine as it should have been since birth. If I
had been born sooner I could have been married to Rhaegar and avoided
this conflict. It was a vain dream to think if we were married that
House Baratheon could never have the Iron Throne for themselves.
Viserion
and Rhaegal flew on either side of me. In their eyes a look of hunger
festered. It was very likely that they would attack anything that moved
if they saw me start burning men. Unlike my own attacks, they would go
for whatever caught their eyes. It could be the Lannisters or it could
be my own men. Dragons were more than beasts, but they were still driven
by their desires.
Rhaegal, named for my late brother, had green
scales. If my brother had ridden a dragon, it would have looked like
this one. We could have flown together. We could have fought together.
We could have ruled together. My dream of sitting on the Iron Throne
wasn't comparable to the glory of not being the last of my House.
Viserys
had not been a brother in any way. Yet I had named Viserion after him.
Why? Did some part of me miss him? The reason had to be that I knew he
could be a better man and now his namesake could allow it. I'm sure
Tyrion would have a different explanation but I wouldn't like it as much
as my own.
What would Jon be like if he became king? Would he
think of the Seven Kingdoms above the North? Did he value Westeros over
his family? Could I blame him if he did? I had grown up with my brother
but he wasn't family. Not really. There were no kind memories in my past
except enduring just enough to see another sunrise.
It wasn't
until Drogo and Jorah that I had realized the truth about myself. Now no
one who hadn't known me then would be able to guess my past. Of course I
was always certain of myself and no one would dare abuse me.
To
the Westerosi I was a dangerous Targaryen who was not to be trusted.
This upcoming battle would determine how my reign would be perceived. I
would be either a benevolent ruler or a mad tyrant. Jon would also
decide to stay by my side or abandon me depending on the choices I made.
The weight on my shoulders was nearly unbearable.
What if I made
a mistake? What if Viserion and Rhaegal decided to burn anyone they
came across? What if I decided to let my emotions get the best of me and
lose everything? I had to do this no matter how I felt. Ruling would be
much harder than this.
I had Drogon fly lower to better see.
Yes! It was a caravan which must mean that Jaime Lannister was here. I
flew even lower so that my men could see me and gave the signal that our
targets were in front of us. After making sure my men knew what to
expect, I flew higher and around the Lannisters.
It would be my
men from the front and me from the back. My heart beat faster as I was
excited. The moment before a battle was sweet and nearly as peaceful as
flying. Whatever happened next at least I was happy. At least there was
peace in my life.
As I got closer to the Lannisters I saw them
more clearly. At the moment they had no idea that I was about to
slaughter them. Why would they? I hadn't made an attack on Westeros yet.
They could know Olenna had sent a raven but might not think it had
arrived yet. Maybe they didn't even know when she had sent the raven.
They would scream my name as they died.
Viserion
let out a loud roar and the Lannisters stood still. Some looked up at
the sky to see three dragons. To their credit none ran and the archers
started shooting arrows. No arrow reached high enough to even graze me.
It would have to be an extremely lucky arrow to kill me.
The men
were so focused on me that they didn't notice the Dothraki rushing at
them. There was a chorus of screams as I flew overhead without Drogon
having to breathe a single flame. All three of my children roared as one
and I could hear the bloodlust in their cries.
I saw a few men running from the battle and had Drogon fly to them.
"Dracarys!" I cried out at the top of my lungs.
The
men did not hear me as they burned alive. It was a quick death but by
the way they cried out I knew it was painful. Burning alive was one of
the worst ways to die and so would only be granted to my enemies. No
ally or innocent deserved such a fate.
Drogon continued to burn
those that tried vainly to flee or moved a little too far from the rest
of the group. It took a lot of effort to make sure he didn't burn any of
the wagons that most likely had food in them. I would be a poor queen
if I deprived my subjects of food during winter. What would this battle
even mean if innocents died afterwards?
I flew up higher to get a
better look at how the battle was going. Dothraki were massacring those
below. The Lannisters were barely surviving. Their numbers had been cut
nearly in half which hopefully meant they would surrender soon. If they
didn't the battle would stop when their numbers were too low. I assumed
that Jon wouldn't want us to kill all of them.
A group of
Lannisters were managing to overpower the Dothraki. They were doing so
by a very thin margin. I turned Drogon towards them. Though I didn't
want to burn my own men, it was something that had to be risked to save
more lives. The Dothraki that lived would understand the risk their
khaleesi had taken.
"Dracarys!" I yelled and Drogon breathed his flames towards the Lannisters.
Two
Dothraki were burned alive, a few singed, and most were left unharmed.
The Lannisters, on the other hand, died. I was too high up to hear their
screams but I assumed they were loud. As loud as they could cry towards
the sky. What if just the threat of burning had made them leave Cersei
behind?
It didn't matter what would have happened, they were now
only bones and ashes. Viserion and Rhaegal kept their distance as I
strategically burned those down below. It took all my power to make sure
Drogon didn't burn any of the wagons. Once the battle was won we could
take the food for ourselves and give it to the Lannisters if they bent
the knee.
Once I noticed my control over Drogon was starting to
waver, I turned him away from the battle. My men could survive a few
minutes without me. This was even more true as if I lost control over my
child my men could die by his flames. I would not kill my own men. Only
a monster would kill their own men.
Drogon relaxed and I turned back to the heat of battle.
As
I prepared another attack, Viserion and Rhaegal made their moves. One
moment I was focused on the battle and the next my focus changed.
Dragons are both beautiful and deadly. They are the most beautiful
animals in all of the known world. It seemed impossible for such large
creatures to take flight but they did. Their breath was deadly and could
burn down most things to the point if a dragon went against your
forces, you were dead.
My other two children had folded their
wings close to their bodies. This allowed them to descend faster. Even
though Drogon was larger, they had too much of a head start for us to
stop them by force.
"Keligon, Viserion!" I yelled. "Keligon, Rhaegal!"
But
they didn't listen. I knew they could hear me which meant they didn't
care. Jorah had told me so long ago that you couldn't tame a dragon. At
the time the words felt hollow as he was a Mormont and so didn't have
the blood of the dragon flowing through his veins. As was often the
case, he was right. No matter how much I thought of them as my children,
they were dragons that could choose any moment not to obey me.
If I was a dragon why would I care about mere humans?
"Keligon!" I yelled and pushed Drogon to fly as fast as he could.
My
heart stopped once Viserion and Rhaegal were close enough to breathe
fire. I didn't know where they would unleash their flames. They could
have seen what I had done and decided to copy that. Dragons were smart
creatures. It all depended on if they wanted to burn everything or not.
Rhaegal
started to burn the wagons and Drogon rammed into him. As the two flew
away from each other I glanced briefly to see Viserion turn away from
the wagons. At least the supplies weren't being burned now. I didn't
have great hopes for restraining my other two children, though.
Rhaegal
was the first to return to battle. This time he stayed away from the
wagons and burned the Lannisters. He must know I wouldn't be happy if he
killed my men and was doing his best to avoid making me mad. He didn't
care about anyone's opinion but his own.
I tried to chase him
from the battle but this time he wouldn't budge. He wanted to burn those
down below and I couldn't stop it. Tears nearly started going down my
cheeks but my strength stopped them. People would notice if I had cried
and they wouldn't be threatened by my mere presence then.
Viserion
roared loudly and approached the battlefield in the same direction the
Dothraki had. He was flying low and I didn't know his plan. Would he
burn everything down? Drogon dove down and I was nearly flung off of his
back. I clung to his back more desperately than I would ever admit.
There
was no chance of ramming him off his current path. Drogon's claws could
injure Viserion and I wouldn't risk that. They may be monsters to some,
but they were the only children I could ever have. They were also the
only three living dragons in existence. After they passed it was
entirely possible no more dragons would be born.
"Keligon, Viserion!" I yelled and Viserion flew away.
Drogon
flapped his wings to gain height. In that brief moment in time Viserion
had turned back to us. He dove underneath me and started to burn
anything he could. Whenever I made a move towards him he would fly away.
This was a game to him! My men could be burned alive and it meant
nothing to him!
It took a few minutes to figure out how to play
Viserion's game and make him go away from the battle. I managed to chase
him away from the battle. Though it would take decades for the
landscape to fully recover from his flames. Since the fire wouldn't
spread to my men, I allowed him to do what he wanted.
Since there
was nothing else I could do about my other two children, I turned my
eyes back to the battle. Things hadn't turned out as I planned, but at
least Tyrion could adapt to my children's antics. My men were now
staying firmly in a certain area so they wouldn't be burned by Rhaegal.
Suddenly
Drogon cried out and I tried to help him find a place to land. As I
spotted an area with only Lannisters, I decided to land there. With a
slight turn of my head I could see an arrow burrowed deep into his skin.
What monster would hurt my child? I had lost Rhaego. I would not lose
Drogon.
My eyes turned towards Bronn preparing to fire another large arrow like before.
"Dracarys!" I yelled and the man jumped away just as dragonfire was about to engulf him.
Soon
after, Drogon landed by the Blackwater Rush. I got off of my child and
rushed to get the arrow out. He turned to look at me and I felt guilty.
It was my fault that he was hurt. It was my fault he could've died if
the man had aimed better. With the weight of my guilt aiding me, I
started to pull it.
I wrapped my hands tightly around the arrow
and planted my feet firmly on the ground. Drogon would protect me if
anyone dared come near so I put all my focus on the task at hand. I
pulled and the thick smoke wafted into my nose. The scent of burning
flesh was thick and it was hard not to cough.
The arrow was stuck
in deeper than I had realized. In my naivety I thought I could merely
tug on it a little and then it would be free. A stronger person could
have easily relieved Drogon, but I was not that person. Though it now
felt impossible to me, I continued to tug on the arrow with all of my
might.
Drogon turned his head and I stopped pulling. My eyes
followed his head and I saw Jaime Lannister running towards me on
horseback. He was holding a spear and his eyes looked only at me. The
man who had murdered my father thought me the same as him. So he felt
compelled to kill me. If I were mad, I wouldn't blame him for trying.
But I wasn't mad, his sister was.
Did the man really think he
could kill me now? Drogon was injured, not dead. His injury was minor
and his mouth still worked. He could kill Jaime by breathing fire or
swallowing him whole. Jaime must be mad as his resolve never wavered and
his horse's hooves continued to pound into the earth.
Drogon
opened his mouth and looked at the man who was determined to kill me.
The burning landscape around me was more real now that I stood on solid
ground. If not for him being the enemy, I would have said that Jaime
looked regal as he ran towards me. He ran through flames and over
corpses of his men to kill me.
The fire inside of Drogon's maw
heated up and I looked at Jaime for the last ti-Bronn rode on another
horse and shoved the Lannister into the river. Though it would not
ensure their survival, it meant that my child's flames did not end their
lives. It also meant that how I dealt with Jaime would be done under
Jon's scrutiny.
With the threat dealt with for the moment, I
continued pulling on the arrow. In a moment of pure desperation I pulled
on the arrow harder than before and stumbled backwards. Luckily I
didn't fall over but I came extremely close. I petted Drogon's head and
promised myself to be more careful next time. I had to be aware of
everything so something like this didn't happen again.
I turned
to Jaime and Bronn struggling to get out of the river. It would be so
easy to cry 'Dracarys' and have Drogon end their lives. But that isn't
what a good queen would do, it's what a monster would do. So I kept my
mouth shut until I was certain what would come out.
"Take them." I commanded the four Dothraki that came rushing to my side.
The
two men were smart enough not to struggle. Even if they managed to
escape the Dothraki, they would never run fast enough to escape Drogon
nor my other two children. As my men restrained them, Bronn glared at
me. He would not be executed as a coward.
Jaime had a strange
look in his eyes. At first I thought he was as angry as Bronn, but
something was different. It was as if Jaime was accepting his fate. It
was as if the Lannister knew what kind of man he was and thought he
deserved to be punished for it. He wouldn't die a hero or a villain. He
would die something in between.
"Shall we kill them, khaleesi?" One of the Dothraki asked, a grin on his face.
"No,
I have a different fate for them." I replied though I hadn't decided on
their fates. "I also need you to round up all the survivors. They
deserve the chance to bend the knee."
"Yes, khaleesi."
I
watched as they dragged the two men roughly over the ground. They barely
gave the two men time enough to regain their balance. This caused an
amusing sight of Jaime and Bronn stumbling through the ashes.
"Daenerys," Jon said breathlessly as he ran towards me. "I saw Drogon go crashing down."
"I'm fine." I replied with a smile.
"You never had control over Rhaegal and Viserion, did you?"
"I knew there was a chance I wouldn't be able to command them."
"But you reacted to them and restrained them as much as they could be."
Rhaegal
cried out and Viserion returned his cries. The two then stopped their
destruction and flew to land by their brother's side. Jon backed up
slightly and I went to stand beside him.
"You couldn't do more than you did." Jon said.
"I should have left them at Dragonstone." I admitted. "You were right."
Jon stared at me and then looked at the dragons.
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