Of the Blood of the Dragon

Chapter Thirty

⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟The loss of both her dragon, her son, and Lady Valaena left Rhaenyra Targaryen ashen and inconsolable. King's Landing was lost, all agreed; they must needs abandon the city.

Reluctantly, Her Grace was persuaded to leave the next day, at dawn. With the Mud Gate in the hands of her foes, and all the ships along the river burned or sunk, Rhaenyra and a small band of followers slipped out through the Dragon Gate, intending to make their way up the coast to Duskendale.

With her rode the brothers Manderly, four surviving Queensguard, Ser Balon Byrch and twenty gold cloaks, four of the queen's ladies-in-waiting, Lady Viserra Stark, Princess Aemma Targaryen, and her last surviving son, Aegon the Younger.

Ser Garth the Harelip, a captain of the gold cloaks at the Dragon Gate, was charged with the defense of the castle, a task for which the Harelip proved to have little appetite. Her Grace had not been gone half a day when Ser Perkin the Flea and his gutter knights appeared outside the gates, demanding that the castle yield. Though outnumbered ten to one, the queen's garrison might still have resisted, but Ser Garth chose instead to strike Rhaenyra's banners, open his gates, and trust to the mercy of the foe.

The Flea proved to have no mercy. Garth the Harelip was dragged before him and beheaded, along with twenty other knights still loyal to the queen. The Flea also freed all the prisoners found in the dungeons below the castle, amongst them Grand Maester Orwyle, the Sea Snake, Lord Corlys Velaryon, and the Queen Dowager, Alicent of House Hightower.

Down in the black cells, Ser Perkin's men even found King Aegon's former master of coin, Ser Tyland Lannister, still alive... though Vaegon and Viserra had blinded him, burned him, pulled out his fingernails and toenails, cut off his ears, and relieved him of his manhood.

King Aegon's master of whisperers, Larys Strong the Clubfoot, fared much better. The new Lord of Harrenhal emerged intact wherever he had been hiding. Like a man risen from the grave, he came striding through the halls of the Red Keep as if he had never left them.

Rhaenyra's flight from King's Landing had been beset with difficulty. At Rosby, she found the castle gates barred at her approach, by the command of the young woman whose claim she had passed over in favor of a younger brother. Young Lord Stokrworth's castellan granted her hospitality, but only for a night.

Half of her gold cloaks deserted on the road, and one night her camp was attacked by broken men. Though her knights beat off the attackers, Ser Balon Byrch was felled by an arrow, and Ser Lyonel Bentley, suffered a blow to the head that cracked his helm. The queen pressed on toward Duskendale.

Lord Gunthor's widow was less than overjoyed when Her Grace appeared at her gates. Only the intercession of Ser Harrold Darke persuaded Lady Meredyth to allow the queen within her walls at all, and only upon the condition that she would not remain for long.

Once safely behind the walls of the Dun Fort, overlooking the harbor, Rhaenyra commanded Lady Darklyn's maester to send word to Grand Maester Gerardys on Dragonstone, asking that a ship be sent at once to take her him. Three ravens flew, yet as the days passed, no ship appeared. Nor did any reply return from Gerardys on Dragonstone.

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After putting Aemma to bed, Viserra walked to Rhaenyra's chambers, Cregan's letter in her hand. Even in the dark halls she could feel the stares of the knights sworn to Lady Darklyn.

When she entered the chambers, she found Rhaenyra sitting by the fire, tears staining her cheeks.

"Cregan wrote that he will bring a host south as soon as he can... but it might take some time to gather our men. However, they will be younger and fiercer than our Winter Wolves."