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The Queen Who Was

Epilogue

As soon as she reached the Dragonpit – no, as soon as she saw the Dragonpit , - Rhaenys knew what hell looked like.

All throughout the frantic ride, she had been thinking of Vhagar but now she was faced with the realization that the oldest surviving dragon had not escaped her bonds without anyone's notice. She was greeted by roars that made her press her palms against her ears in a vain attempt to protect her hearing; the horse whinnied in panic and started drawing back and rearing, so Rhaenys clung to his mane, trying not to fall. No shouts or nudging soon turned to kicks could influence the panicked animal; horror had erased all training and he was now a mass of pure instincts, a mass of instincts that could kill her before Vhagar had the chance. Rhaenys tried to free her feet from the stirrups but with the horse in this dance of dread, it seemed almost impossible. Finally, she jumped on the ground and saw, irritated, that Laenor and Rhaenyra, also afoot now, waited for her commands. Couldn't they take some initiative?

With relief, she saw that none of the other dragons had escaped, although many of them were straining against their bonds. She saw five huge bodies in the yard, roaring and breathing fire, as terrified men were trying to douse it with the huge buckets of water they kept near for such occasions. Not that such a thing had ever taken place; taking the scene in, Rhaenys realized that they should have kept every dragon without a rider at Dragonstone where they couldn't inflict such harm. That was their grandfather's way and they had accepted it without thinking but dragons were a weapon that could be turned against its owners as easily as it was for them to use it; in the light Vhagar breathed out as she circled around King's Landing and destroyed it liberally, Rhaenys could make out the position of the dragon closest to her. Soon, he'd be free. She looked for Meleys, found her, willed her to come near, and failed.

"We'll have to go there and take them," she said levelly. "Looks like the heat is such that the men cannot reach further to dose the fire…"

Laenor shove his cloak in the nearest bucket, threw it over his head as dripping as it was and entered the suffocating smoke and flaming hell, dodging an enormous claw by a meter. Rhaenys followed his lead because it was easier to do something, rather than wait to be sure that he had reached Seasmoke and put him under control.

She had been in a similar danger only once – decades ago, when she had first claimed Meleys, stepping towards her without knowing if the big dragon would accept or kill her. But then, it had been exciting. It had been a game, a little, at least.

What was happening now was no game at all. We should have shortened and strengthen Vhagar's bonds, she thought despairingly as she jumped from the way of a storming claw, right into one of a path of flame. Now, she felt as helpless as those her family had once subjected with the power of beasts greater than the ones she now prayed would not notice her…

Weaving her way took eternity. When she reached Meleys, she already knew that her glorious silver hair would have to be cut short – she would not be surprised if there were spots of burned right through it, dragon breath reaching her before she could lower the wet cloak which was now completely dry against it…

"Meleys!" she yelled, suddenly realizing that the mouth opened to bathe her in flames was that of her own she-dragon. "Meleys!" she repeated even as she saw the flames ready to escape because somehow, somehow she knew that should she remove herself from harm's way, should she let fear rule her, Meleys would know it and the bond between dragon and rider, tool and mistress would be broken. Then, she would die. So she stood her ground even as she thought that she'd swoon, that she was already swooning from the heat.

And then, the jaws snapped closed. Meleys lowered her head. Rhaenys circled her and slapped a saddle onto her – it was a good thing that they had those outside the very stalls as well, else she would have found herself into a closed space with two enraged dragons still inside to take it out.

There was no time to give the men instructions and anyway, there was no way they'd hear her from this high. She saw Seasmoke and Syrax also rising and thought that with the general level of panic in the yard greatly increased, the men should be able to douse the fires now. But there was no time to see.

Vhagar was not hard to spot. They just had to follow the fire blazing a trail in all directions over the city like a red comet. Hadn't her mother found an old book mentioning a red star in the library of Dragonstone some decades ago? Why was she thinking about this at all?

She could feel how Meleys became less frenzied and more responsive but just to be sure, she made a circle over King's Landing, trying to make out which quarters had been put on fire. Too many. The capital resembled nothing different than a chandelier with some candles burning and others unlit.

She breathed the fresh night air in deeply. Down there, at Aegon's Hill, were her little children and their father, left on Vhagar's impulses if they would not manage to stop her. The whole city was on a dragon's mercy of which a dragon had none. She thought about that without dread and without fear. She had long ago learned to push those in the back of her mind when needed, as hard as it was. She would not think of failing, dying, falling, leading Laenor or Rhaenyra to death. When we get back, I'll have some hot tea and lemon cake as Viserys rubs my feet, she thought. She would not think of not succeeding.

The closer they came to Vhagar, the quicker her heart beat.

How she wished that her uncle and grandfather had been more insistent that Viserys claimed a new dragon after Balerion's death! Her uncle had pressed him beyond measure on things that, from the distance of time, looked so minor, yet he had let him have his way in this most important thing of all. Four dragons stood an infinitely better chance than three but three was what they had.

She descended upon Vhagar from above, the clouds and smoke successfully having hid her. Vhagar startled and instinctively dove right but Rhaenyra was there and Syrax met Vhagar with her bulk; relieved, Rhaenys realized that the long hours of flying the children had spent together had given Rhaenyra and Laenor some understanding of Vhagar and her reactions, both commanded by Laena and not.

Her relief did not last long; as Laenor and Rhaenyra ried to steer Vhagar back towards Rhaenys' Hill and she kept Meleys close overhead to stop Vhagar from flying off high in the sky, Vhagar made a half-turn and extended a huge claw; Syrax roared in pain but stayed where she was. Blood poured between her yellow scales like a rain of red. Rhaenys steered Meleys downward and she slashed an open path down the entire length of the other dragon's back and at the same time, Seasmoke roared and reached for Vhagar's eye. Both movements deflected her from her chosen opponent but she shook in such fury and pain that the three smaller dragons were easily thrown away; only by the mercy of Seven did Meleys' fire reach Vhagar's path in time to make her recoil… but then, it was Rhaenys who stayed in her saddle only thanks to her saddle chains when her body instinctively lurched at one side to avoid the heat of Vhagar's fiery answer. "We're trying to help you!" Rhaenys shrieked, or thought she had, and then the fire suddenly disappeared and Vhagar became all grasping claws reaching for Seasmoke.

The young dragon eluded them easily, flew aside and then came back in full force, aiming for Vhagar's wing. "No!" Rhaenys screamed because Seasmoke's claws were sharp enough to tear the wing off and this was an injury that would render Vhagar unable to go aloft ever again.

Neither man nor dragon heard her but it mattered not: a jerk of Vhagar saved her wing and Seasmoke's claws drove into her side instead, got lodged there, shook in a way that made Rhaenys think that at least one of them had just been broken; as Syrax and Meleys came at Vhagar at the same time, Seasmoke managed to draw his claw out and spit fire that made Vhagar and Meleys draw their heads back; at this moment, Syrax drove into Vhagar, giving her the first true push into the right direction.

From then on, everything became a blur of flames, claws, and heaving bodies. For the first time in her life, Rhaenys felt in her very core what a dangerous delusion the Targaryens lived in. They thought they could control their dragons just because the dragons would not devour them and would obligingly throw themselves against any enemy they turned them on. But when something more was expected…

She was at the mercy of Meleys as much as she was at Vhagar. And her dragon certainly did not understand that Vhagar was to be taken alive.

The end was like Rhaenys had always imagined Aegon's Conquest had been like. Fire and blood – the dragons'… and their own. Vhagar lay at the ground where she had taken down one of the city gates as she had fallen. Her immense bulk did not move with breathing. Rhaenyra's arm was dislocated by the shoulder by a grasping claw, the blood pouring down so abundant that Rhaenys thought she'd lose it before she realized it was not just her stepdaughter's but Vhagar's blood as well. She turned to look around for Seasmoke and screamed because at this moment, the young dragon was hurtling against the ground with a thump that made everyone stumble and lay there, panting, with his rider partly pressed under one wing as all over the city, people screamed and hurried to douse the fires that still burned in the night like red-petaled flowers.

The throes of the dragon were such that no one could go near and drag Laenor away. He made no move to free himself. Was he dead? Rhaenys ran with her heart in her throat but at the time she reached them, the wounded dragon had removed his wing and was using it to push Laenor slightly, as if wanting to make sure that his rider lived. Both of them were burned and torn beyond recognition; when Rhaenys leaned over her son, she thought he was dead for sure but when Rhaenyra pressed at a wound, new blood spurted out, fresh and glorious. The girl looked up and her smile was the most beautiful thing Rhaenys had seen in a very long time. "He's going to live," she said and despite knowing that Rhaenyra could promise no such thing, Rhaenys believed her. "Bring a litter immediately!" she ordered and Rhaenys was grateful because, for the second time in her life, she was unable to think despite knowing how much depended on her.

But before the two women could go back to the Red Keep, there were some things they needed to do. "You return Meleys to the put," Rhaenyra offered, "and I'll take care of the rest."

"The rest?" Rhaenys repeated dully. "You cannot return Seasmoke anywhere. He'll burn you before you can mount. He'll only accept Laenor."

"I won't ride him," Rhaenyra replied. "Look! He's collapsed but he's still breathing. I'll have men a platform move him before he wakes."

"Thank the gods for this small mercy!" Rhaenys whispered and so, it was a huge platform with a rapidly forged cage that the dragon was transported all through the city, under the horrified looks of those finished with dousing the fires. But Rhaenys did not see that. She was in her son's chamber, watching the maesters treat his burns, race time before the infection could spread. To her relief, his face was almost unscathed, albeit covered in smoke. His body, though… He would be a wound from now on, from shoulders to waist. But his constant companion did not seem to mind. For the first time, Rhaenys felt like giving the boy a look but he could not keep his interest for long. A heartbeat later, her eyes returned to Laenor again, so intent that she did not hear the maester addressing her. "Rhaenys," Viserys finally said, touching her hand very gently. "Rhaenys, you must let them see to your arm."

"My arm?" she asked, surprised, and only when she followed his look did she notice the bone sticking under her skin. She had not felt the break. "Not now."

"Yes, now. You must not delay."

"I'll stay with him," Rhaenyra offered. "If there is something, I will call you. But nothing will go wrong. He's going to live."

Reluctantly, Rhaenys moved to the adjacent chamber and although the freezing fear should leave no place for anything else, she still grunted when they started manipulating the arm. Viserys forced a cloth in her mouth to bite and then everything went black.

When she woke up, the sun had risen high in the sky. She stretched, wondering why she was feeling so battered… and then she remembered. A scream rose in her throat but as she tried to rise in bed and collapsed because she rose on the wrong arm, she heard Viserys' voice from the other side of the canopy and peace came upon her. There was no way he would be so calm if Laenor had… if he had…

"Actually, it sounds quite reasonable," he was saying. "Save for…" He hesitated.

"I know how Laenor is," Rhaenyra said, helping him. "And he knows how I am. We have an understanding. All will be fine. Don't worry."

Rhaenys didn't know about Viserys but her own worry had dissolved completely. She felt renewed, free of any concerns. Yes, Daemon might try to make trouble . So what? Viserys would live long and he would not repeat the mistake of summoning his brother back for many years to come; with every passing moon, Rhaenyra's position in the realm would be strengthened – Rhaenys was already thinking of all the ways she could enhance her stepdaughter's already considerable part last night. This marriage was the solution of all their problems. When the time came, Rhaenyra and Laenor would be accepted as natural extension of Viserys and Rhaenys herself. And that solved the problem for the succession of Driftmark as well. As discontent as Rhaenys might be with Laenor in some things, a marriage of hatred was not what she wished for him.

For the briefest of moments, she wondered what would have happened, had Laenor not survived. Would her marriage have remained as it was? Would she have been able to look at Viserys without thinking of how different it might have been if he had neglected his own reluctance and claimed another dragon after Balerion? She was happy that she would never get to know.

"I think she woke up," Viserys said; a second later he parted the canopy to let the sunlight in and reached for her hand, taking it in his own.

Rhaenys left it there like a tangible bit of peace, finally warm and safe.

The End