Capítulo 8: Look for the Light
"AHHHHHHHH" a Crewman screamed as his arm was grabbed by a pale man, he had to watch as multiple people took chunks out of his arm until it fell off and all that was left was a stump, he screamed once more before collapsing to the floor.
"GET HIM BACK, HOLD THE BARRICADE!" Corlys shouted as he grabbed one of his crew and shoved him towards the barricade, it had been less than an hour after the sun had set and they had already lost a couple of people, whatever these creatures were had an inhuman tenacity, Corlys watched as they broke and bloodied their hands trying to get into the building, but what made him shiver the most is how their eyes never left him or Jace.
Corlys looked at Jace who gripped his radiant sword intently, he was surprised at how well Jace was taking their current situation but then again he had been here before Corlys arrived 'He was here alone... with these monsters' he thought to himself. But he was brought out of his thoughts when the banging started to intensity, he ran to a gap in the barricade that allowed him to look out into the streets.
"BRACE THE DOOR!!!" Corlys shouted as an 8ft tall giant of a man charged at the building, he was pale like the rest and intensely muscled. All the crew rushed to the door to try and hold it, even Jace braced himself against it, they were all pushed an inch away when the large man slammed into the barricade. The crew braced themselves back against the barricade only to be pushed back once more, Corlys silently cursed as he grabbed a crossbow from one of his crew that had broken down and sat on the floor crying.
He aimed it out of a small gap in the barricade and he shot at the large man, it was a direct hit and the bolt lodged itself in the large man's shoulder. A sound that was a mix between a screech and a roar erupted from the man as he charged once again.
Jace was terrified, they wouldn't last the night at this rate, if they weren't bracing themselves against the barricade then he did not doubt that the man would be able to dismantle it in one charge. As he braced himself against the barricade he watched as a man next to him was grabbed from the outside by the neck, he almost threw up as the 8ft pale man outside managed to pull him through a small hole in the barricade, completely breaking every bone in the crewman's body and turning his insides into soup.
It only took a few seconds so Jace could do nothing but watch, his breathing became laboured and his fear was starting to get to him. He lifted his sword and screamed as he thrust it through the holes in the barricade, he knew that he made contact as he could hear the screech on the other end.
He did it again and again until his shoulder was grabbed by Corlys "Enough Jace! Focus on holding the barricade" he commanded and Jace obeyed after calming himself down, he'd lost himself to the fear and he knew how bad things could get if he let that happen again.
They managed to hold strong as the pale men bashed and tried to get themselves through, however, the crewmen couldn't take much more of this, ever since they had gotten here they have had to deal with one horror after another, Krakens, wormlike creatures and now these pale men that are capable of ripping a man's arm off with his their teeth "I can't do this! This whole place is fucking cursed!" One of the men said as they stopped bracing the barricade and ran away heading to the steps that led to the higher levels, seeing one of their fellow men give up and run gave other people the courage to do the same.
"Stand your ground!!! We will all die if you do not follow orders!!!" Corlys shouted to the men as he held his back against the barricade, the men knew his words were true yet their fear was in control and what it told them to do was to run away as that was the most likely way they'd live.
One by one the crew ran, having been broken by the horrors in Valyria. Only 10 people including Jace and Corlys remained brave enough to hold the barricade together, though they were barely able to do so, they watched as chunks of the barricade started coming apart and the wood started to creek. Corlys gritted his teeth, he turned around and looked outside through the gap, there were hundreds of the pale figures outside and it seemed their getting in was just an inevitability.
Jace had come to the same conclusion as his grandfather, they were going to come in and all they could do was think about how to escape them. Jace's thoughts immediately went to the roof, perhaps if they could get outside to the roof then they'd have a better chance of tending them off, or maybe they could even jump to the next building and escape that way. Either way, they were running out of time and they needed to leave soon, otherwise, they'd be in someone's belly soon enough.
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Rhaenyra sat patiently, tapping her fingers against the desk, it had not been easy for her as she waited for a reply from her uncle. All of her thoughts were on her Firstborn and what danger he might be in, she wasn't even sure what type of reply she was expecting from her uncle but anything could help at this point. It's not like Jace would've told Daemon where he was going, she knew her uncle and not even he would allow such foolishness.
He was brash and hot-headed but even he would shy away when it came to travelling to Valyria, anyone with any amount of common sense would 'Foolish Foolish boy!' Rhaenyra thought to herself as she felt tears start to wet her cheeks. It was only the thoughts of the incoming letter that stopped her from getting on her dragon and flying towards Valyria now 'Mayhaps I don't have any common sense either' she thought to herself with a humourless chuckle.
She heard someone knock on her Solar and she instantly stood "Enter!" She shouted as she made her way to the door. The Maester stood there with a letter in hand, though before he could even make it inside Rhaenyra was already there and she had taken the letter from his hand "Thank you, you may return to your duties" she said to him before ushering him outside.
Usually, she wouldn't be so curt with her Maester as they were good friends, he'd delivered all of her boys when she was with child. But she was desperate to read the reply as quickly as she could and so she'd neglected her usual pleasantries. She rushed back to her seat and opened the letter, her heart was beating out of her chest when she saw it was indeed from her uncle.
*It was good to hear from you niece, though I have to admit the news you share deeply concerns me, while I am not sure as to Jace's destination, what I do know is that he would stop off at Volantis. While this isn't enough to prove Helaena's claims it does give me reason to be concerned due to how close Volantis is to Valyria...*
The letter goes on for a while but Rhaenyra hardly reads any of it, she only focuses on a few words. If Daemon believes that Jace might be in Valyria then she can discount her paranoia and finally start to do something.
She stood up dropped the letter to the ground and left her Solar, she'd head towards Pentos herself and continue the investigation, regardless of what the King might say.
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"RUN!!!!" Corlys shouted as the barricade started to fall, with fewer and fewer crewmen they broke through just as easily, had it not been for the superior materials that the barricade had been made out of them they probably wouldn't have lasted even an hour after dark.
Jace watched as one of the smaller pale men started to wiggle through a large gap in the barricade, he unsheathed his sword and swung it cutting the pale man's head off, though as the head fell it tried to bite him straight up until it stilled. More and more creatures started to start crawling through but Jace stayed until he was one of the last ones to run, it was only when Corlys dragged him back that he moved away and ran upstairs with the rest of them.
Jace heard the crashing of the barricade to the floor as they all came flooding inside, one of the crewmen was unfortunate enough to have been looking back at the barricade when it fell and so he tripped on the ground.
Jace heard the sounds of screaming and claws tearing flesh apart, though the screams quickly changed into choking as Jace presumed that he was suffocating on his blood. It didn't take long for the voice to quieten and the sounds of chewing to stop, when Jace reached the top of the staircase he looked down to see the entire floor filled with pale men.
Corlys grabbed him again "Stop gawking boy!!! Unless you wish to die!" He said as he pushed Jace in front of himself, they continued to run up the stairs and as luck should have it on the next floor there was a door at the top of the staircase, it was made of the same strong wood as most of the furniture so Jace felt hopeful that it would be able to hold against the pale men, though when he tried to open it he found that it was locked as it wouldn't budge, barged against it with his shoulder and for a slight moment he saw the door moved.
His anger started to bubble as he realised what was going on "Open the door now!!! They are coming!!!" Jace shouted, he realised that the crew who had fled earlier had locked themselves up here and were not letting them in. There was no reply to Jace's words no matter how much he and the rest of the crew banged against the door "You cowards!!! Open the door!!!" He shouted, but it was no use.
Jace and the crew tried to barge their way in but it was no use, they had blocked the door, by the time Corlys and the rest of the crew had come up they had all but given up, all of them except for Jace who withdrew his sword, he thrust the sword into the door and it carved through the strong wood like butter
"AHHHHH"
They heard a scream through the door as his sword met flesh "Push now!!!" Jace screamed to the crew and they did so. The door was much easier to open now however there was still some resistance "Jace hurry and open that door we don't have much time!" Corlys warned as he held his sword up, the Palemen had extinguished all the torches that Corlys and his crew had lit so the only light was what they had with them on the stairs.
Corlys started to sweat as he saw multiple dots of light start to appear at the bottom of the stairs "Men draw swords, hold your ground lest we all die here now" Corlys said as they started to hear the rapid thudding of feet moving against the ground. Corlys thrust his sword out and caught one of the pale men in the head before kicking out with his foot and sending the corpse back down the stairs.
Jace looked back and saw that the pale men had caught up with them, he started stabbing into the door rapidly, trying to remove those who blocked it but it seemed they'd wisened up and moved out of the way. Though he did have one last idea, he moved closer to the door "If you don't open the door now I will cut the hinges off the door! All of us will die together!" He shouted though he still got no response.
Jace not wasting any time shoved his sword through the side of the door where the hinge was and using every ounce of strength he had he pushed down, the sound of metal tearing filled their ears as a hinge was cut through. Corlys and the other men were not having an easy time defending themselves from the pale men, they were lucky that the staircase was so narrow otherwise they'd have been overrun.
"AHHHHHH" one of the men screamed as he stabbed his sword into a pale man but as the pale man fell he grabbed onto the man and pulled him down the staircase with him, his screams didn't even last 5 seconds before they quietened "Jace!!! It's now or we die!!!" Corlys shouted back as he once again stabbed a pale man.
Jace cursed as they still had not opened the door "Open it now!!! Or we all die!!!" Jace shouted as he thrust his sword into the last hinge, not receiving an answer he cut it out and then commanded the men to push, they did so and the large wooden door fell to the ground. At the end of the hallway he could see the men who had blocked the door running away 'They will die either by my hand or these creatures' he thought to himself.
"Let's go! Make sure they don't lock us out again!" Jace shouted as they ran through the corridor with Corlys and the rest of the men close behind. However pale men were right behind them now, to the point where they could even be confused as running together. If any of them slowed down to tripped then it would be over for them and they'd be torn apart.
They ran up a third flight of stairs that would take them to the top level of the barracks, Jace could only hope once they got up there they could climb out onto the roof.
"AHHHH"
"NO NO NO"
"SEVEN FORGIVE ME"
The sounds of fighting and screaming echoed from the top of the staircase, when they arrived they saw that the cowards had been ambushed by pale men who had scaled the barracks and climbed in through the window. They were fighting back but it was clear that their fear was getting the better of them which made them easy targets "Go to the windows! Climb out onto the roof!" Jace commanded as he ran past the cowardly men "Leave the cowards behind!" He said and the men did just that though they had to fight as well when more started pouring through the windows, it was absolute chaos as they were being attacked from the front and behind.
Jace was able to get to the window but saw that most of the crew were fighting the pale men, he gritted his teeth as he jumped back down, he couldn't leave his grandfather behind so he went back. With Starfyre in his hand, he cut through the pale men as easily as carving a cake, the she sword radiated the room in an ethereal light that seemed to irritate the pale men. When Jace reached his grandfather he was covered in blood and scratched and had a chunk taken out of his arm, he reached towards him and grabbed him, pulling him backwards "We need to leave!" Jace shouted, though it looked like his grandfather might argue with him he just nodded his head.
They both pushed through the crowd cutting down any enemies and ignoring the sounds of flesh being torn and blood being splattered onto them, when they both made it to the window there were only a few crewmen left though that was about to change as more and more creatures poured in. Jace and Corlys both climbed out onto the ledge of the building, their only light now was from Jace's sword, it had illuminated the streets below that were full of pale men, they both climbed to the top though Corlys had a tougher time of it as he was injured.
They both collapsed onto the roof when they made it, and it wouldn't be long before the creatures reached the top, Jace looked around and his heart sank, all of the buildings were too far away to jump to, and there was nowhere to go. He started to sob though it wasn't for himself "I'm sorry grandfather, I'm sorry I brought you here" Jace said as tears stained his cheeks.
Corlys who breathed heavily and found his vision blurring pulled Jace into a hug "There are worse ways to die than living one's dream" he said reassuringly to his grandson. All they could do now was wait for the inevitable which would come soon, as the sounds of growling came closer Jace tightened his grip on his sword and started to tremble. He detached himself from his grandfather and stood up, he did not want to die sitting down but standing like a warrior and king.
He held his sword up as he saw the first pale man climb over the edge and onto the roof, he grit his teeth and took a step forward before holding his sword high and slashing down "AHHHHHH" he screamed
*ROOOAAARR*
The entire street was bathed in fire as a dragon swooped down from the skies, Jace fell on his back as he felt the flames tickle his skin, they felt warm, inviting and familiar. His eyes widened in realisation "Vermax!" He said with a smile that grew on his face.
He looked up to see Vermax coming down again and bathing the street in even more fire before he flapped his wings and landed on the barracks with a thump. Jace ran to the head of his dragon and hugged him tightly, he had feared the worst when he saw the abomination corner Vermax and so he was happy to see him.
"Jace!" He heard someone shout, and he looked around Vermax's neck and saw Daella practically jumping off of him.
"Daella!" He shouted as he ran around and caught her as she jumped down into his arms, she started to cry as she hugged him tightly "I thought you were dead!" She said as she sobbed.
"Many times I nearly was" he said to her as he hugged her just as tightly as she hugged him "How did you get here? Why did Vermax let you ride him?" Jace asked as he pulled away from her, he had so many questions that plagued his mind.
"Enough Jace, ask your questions later, we need to leave" Corlys said to him as he approached them with a limp. Jace nodded his head, he knew his grandfather was right so he lifted Daella back onto Vermax before he climbed up himself and then he helped his grandfather onto the dragon's back. It would be hard for Vermax to carry them all, but as long as they didn't travel too far they'd be fine.
"Sōvegon (Fly)" Jace shouted as Vermax flapped his wings and they flew out into the night.
(AN: This one's a little shorter than usual as I'm pretty busy working, but tbh most of it was just about this night, anyway there will be a mini time skip soon as it'll speed things up nicely, after all this is a dance of dragons fic not a Valyria one, this arc is just about character development, making Jace go from a boy to a king)
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