The Silver Lioness

Chapter Two

Beyond the Wall

Ice hissed and cracked, snow made crisp crunch under foot. What had long lay dormant, tucked away in the forgotten caves filled with ice and bone waking to a new dawn. Summer had roared with life for many years, claiming the hand of power and the throne of kingdoms that be. But the North remembers, and Winter is coming, waking from its long rest with a hunger to reach even the most southern lands.

Those who chose this place, who called it home and warred with others. The people who knew the true struggles of life and death. Savages, cannibals, traitors and rapists. Warriors, lovers, spear wives and sons or daughters. Tough women and men, creatures of myth and mystery, all trickle by ones, twos, and clans towards their last preceded hope. Banners, sigils, and lords be damned, long live the King beyond the Wall. Let any God who would listen stand by their side as they dared cross the ice wall for Winter is coming with cracking ice whispering in the wind.

Below the Dunes

In a quiet barely lit room, silk drapes hanging from the ceiling and winding about casting a secure feeling comfort, two bodies sat. They neither looked at one another nor spoke, but in each of their hands rested a letter of intrigue. The older figure clutched a letter in gnarled fingers, a frown laced an aged yet majestic face. The younger leaned back, more relaxed. Slender fingers traced the words inked across the small scrap of paper over and over again.

"The dragons have become horsemen," the older figure spoke out in a gruff voice, harsh from the struggle of life and the pleasures of addiction. Slamming the letter down in distaste.

The younger figure glanced at the older this time, their eyes connecting. A smile was traced on plump whimsical lips. "The lions roar as the stag goes north. Little egg glows in the winter winds."

Both figures picked up goblets of Dornish Red, the sweet but thick fluid slipping past their tongues and filling their belly with warmth. One day all would know what it was like to inquire the wrath of vipers and snakes.

Across the Seas

In violet silk, a pale-fleshed princess stands. Violet eyes with the flame that should be inside them cast down. Empty of nothing but smoldering embers like a village left after being set fire to burn to ash. Weak, docile, and completely at the mercy of the stranger who gazed her way.

Danny felt gooseflesh rise as the Khal stared at her, his form from when she glanced terrifying her more. He was a savage and larger than any man she had laid eyes upon. His body was thick ribbons of muscle and his hair hung in a rich long braid on display for her to see.

A hand fell on her wrist, her brother's grip a harsh bite. She wouldn't know it, but in his eyes burned animosity and jealousy. Perhaps he didn't even know it himself, that feeling that ate away at his mind and made his body break out in a cold sweat under his silken tunic. Fear. The Dragon was afraid.

Viserys was more a ball of emotion than his younger sister, terrified of what lay before him, hating he had to hand over the one thing he had absolute power over, absolute control. With Danny by his side, Viserys was king even if he didn't have a kingdom. He had never had that thought before, not until he saw Khal Drogo sitting atop his black stallion looking every inch the warrior king he was. It was like he was giving away his own lands to the barbarian.

The grip tightened on Danny's wrist as her gaze caught the Khal's, their eyes connecting in a strange dance of fear and suppression. She was afraid, he wanted to suppress that fear.

"Do you see how long his hair is? When Dothraki are defeated in combat, they cut off their braids so the whole world can see their shame. Khal Drogo has never been defeated. He's a savage, of course, but one of the finest killers alive."