Of the Blood of the Dragon

Chapter Twenty Two

King Aegon's master of whisperers, Larys Strong the Clubfoot, had drawn up a list of all those lords who gathered on dragonstone to attend Queen Rhaenyra's coronation and sit on her black council. Lords Celtigar and Velaryon had their seat on islands; as Aegon II had no strength at sea, they were beyond the reach of his wroth. Those black lords whose lands were on the mainland enjoyed no such protection, however.

With a hundred knights and five hundred men-at-arms of the royal household, augmented by three times as many hardened sellswords, Ser Criston, Lady Valaena, and Lady Viserra marched on Rosby and Stokeworth, whose lords had only recently repented of their allegiance to the queen, commanding them to prove their loyalty by adding their power to their own. Thus augmented, Cole's host advanced upon the walled harbor town of Duskendale, where they took the defenders by surprise. The town was sacked, the ships in the harbor set afire by the Cannibal, Lord Darklyn beheaded by Lady Valaena. His household knights and garrison were given the choice between swearing their swords to King Aegon or sharing their lord's fate. Most chose the former having heard of Lady Valaena having gone mad.

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Rook's Rest was Ser Criston's next objective. Forewarned of their coming, Lord Staunton closed his gates and defied the attackers. Behind his walls, his lordship could only watch as his fields and woods and villages were burned, his sheep and cattle and smallfolk put to the sword. When provisions inside the castle began to run low, he dispatched a raven to Dragonstone, pleading for succor.

The bird arrived as Rhaenyra and her blacks were mourning Ser Erryk and debating the proper response to "Aegon the Usurper's" latest attack. Though shaken by this attempt on her life, the queen was still reluctant to attack King's Landing. Septon Eustace claims Rhaenyra had "a mother's heart" that made her reluctant to risk the lives of her remaining sons. Mushroom alone was present for these councils, however, and the fool insists that Rhaenyra was still so greifsick over the death of her son Lucerys that she absented herself from the war council, giving over her command to the Sea Snake and his wife, Princess Rhaenys.

Nine days after Lord Staunton dispatched his plea for help, the sound of leathern wings was heard across the sea, and the dragon Meleys appeared above Rook's Rest. And on her back, in steel and copper armor that flashed in the sun, rode Rhaenys Targaryen, the Queen Who Never Was. Next to her was the Bronze Fury, with the Lord of Vengeance, Vaegon Strong.

Ser Criston Cole was not dismayed. Aegon's Hand had expected this, counted on it. Drums beat out a command, and archers rushed forward, longbowmen and crossbowmen both, filling the air with arrows and quarrels. Scorpions were cranked upward to lose iron bolts of the sort that had once felled Meraxes in Dorne.

Meleys suffered a score of hits, but the arrows only served to make her angry. She swept down, spitting fire to the right while Vermithor took to the left. Knights burned in their saddles as the hair and hide and harness of their horses went up in flames. Men-at-arms dropped their spears and scattered. Some tried to hide behind their shields, but neither oak nor iron could withstand dragon's breath.

Ser Criston who sat next to Lady Valaena on his white horse shouted, "Aim for the riders," through the smoke and flame. "Your son will die a traitor." He then said to Valaena.

"They won't rise from the ashes, but my children will." She replied, looking at the soldiers being burned by Vermithor.

Three more winged shapes appeared: the king astride Sunfyre the Golden, his brother Aemond upon Vhagar, and Lady Viserra with Cannibal. Criston Cole had sprung his trap, and Rhaenys and Vaegon had come snatching at the bait.