章節 10: The Exiled Lord
He opened his eyes, as the first rays of sunlight peeked through his tent. Another nightmare, since that fateful day where he had failed him. He had been having them, since then.
Even now he could recall vividly, how his ears rang to the sound of distant bells. Deep bronze booms and silver chimming that pounded through his skull, a maddening cacophony of noise that grew even louder and louder, until it seemed as if his head would explode.
And then the haunting voice of his silver prince would ask him, why.. why...why...
with his sound fading away slowly, and he would try to speak but nothing would break this silence. He wanted to tell him that it was not his fault, but the bells would continue to ring, silencing him as his prince would fade away.
He knew it did not matter now, as seventeen years had passed since then. But he was still anxious, because he knew what was coming. Viserys Targaryen was preparing for war, to reclaim his birthright and avenge those who had been wronged. And the prince was coming here, he had many chances to meet him but he could not bring himselt to face the Prince as he was ashamed of himself to face him. But more than that, he was scared to see Rhaegar in Viserys, he had heard rumors of how the prince looked like his brother.
Daenerys
She could hear the sound of running water, and as she opened her eyes, she knew why. She saw a river flowing through a city, calling it a ruin would have bern more apt though. But there was something diffrent, a misty fog rose from the river, making it hard for her to see anything. And as far as she could see, there was no one in sight. The only sound being that of the flowing of river, she continued to move forwards to make a sense of what was happening. Last night she was in Pentos, with her brother in Illyrio's mansion. How could she have gotten her, she asked herself. But before she could answer herself or form any ridiculos thoughts in her head, she was stopped dead in her tracks. In front of her were three dragon statutes, they jutted out of water, cutting it's flow over there. They were diffrent from normal statues, they looked alive. Like someone had petrified a real dragon and turned it into a statue. As she looked closely, she noticed a movement. Thinking it was just a trick of her mind, she moved forwards. But then she saw it again, finding something amiss, she tried to go back. But she was not able to move, as if rooted to a spot. And as she looked down, she knew the reason why, her lower body had turned to stone. For sometime, her mind tried to comprehend what had happened, but when it did she started screaming, thrashing and struggling with all her might to do something. But the stone kept creeping up on her, and soon it reached till her neck. She closed her eyes, waiting for it to be over, for she knew she would be petrified just like the dragon in front of her. And as soon as that she had a thought, what if the dragon that she had seen were real and only petrified. She opened her eyes, only to find no statutes of dragon present there. When a shadow passed over her, she looked upwards and saw three dragons circling each other in the air. And as she felt wind on her skin, she looked at herself, and found out that she was no longer petrified. The dragons landed in front of her, and she tentatively took a step towards them, and raised her hand to touch their scales. But as she tried to touch them, her hand passed through them, as if they were phantoms. The dragons, flapped their wings and once again took flight. She called after them, but they soon vanished from her sight.
Daenerys woke up grasping for breath, this dream felt diffrent from the other dreams. There was no song in this dream, and this dream felt very real to her, as if she was really living in it. She gathered her thoughts, and decided what she was going to do.
Finding her brother was easy, as he was mostly near the seaside of the mansion. He always used to gaze at the sea, towards Westeros she thought.
She could remembered nothing of her home, as she was just a newborn girl when they had fled. She could only imagine it from the stories her brother told her.
"Brother."
I turned, as i heard her. She had not rested properly, her hair was dishevelled and her eyes were bloodshot and her forehead covered in sweat."
"Dany, what happened."
"I had a dream, brother."
I knew about her dreams, she had been getting them for some time now. At first, she only dreamt of Westeros, of which i could tell her stories. However recently her dreams have started becoming vague, but they all pointed towards dragonlore. She had even dreamt about songs, which i belive were of Rhaegar's.
Her gift, i think is similar to Daenys Targaryen, who was known as the dreamer.
"What did you dream then Dany, tell me."
"I dreamt of dragons, brother."
Suddenly a shout garnered our attention, one of the servant was pointing towards the sky and yelling continously.
We looked towards where he was pointing, and i saw a red comet rising on the horizon.
Jon Arryn is dead.
We have just recceived the news, after getting the news we departed from Pentos, and were heading towards Myr. As waves crashed against our ship, my thoughts went towards our company. The 'Avengers' currently was fighting over the disputed lands for Myr.
Only war could train soldiers effectively, and our soldiers were battle hardened.
It was one of the main reasons, that i established 'avengers' over there. While far from golden company, 'avengers' had become quite a reputed mercenary company in such a short period of sixteen years. But it was quite a costly affair, but due to the funds available with us that problem was taken care of.
I had spent the last sixteen years, working tirelessly in building my strength and forming connections in the free cities. We had travelled all across the free cities.
So when we reached the shores of Myr, it was a familiar sight to me. Only few people knew i was coming, some must have guessed it. But Robert must be in North now, so he will not know now, while Twyin is at Casterly Rock. With both of them now occupied with the the death of Jon Arryn, it was time to start making moves.
The encampent was huge, to say the least. Over these years, i have seen Dothraki khalasars, but nothing could compare to the encampent set up in front of me. The golden company was indeed worthy of its reputation. That is not to say that 'avengers' encampment was not disciplined, but the diffrence was present and it could be seen. There were nearly 20000 men present here, and it was quite a sight. I am sure if Viserys from show was here, he would have marched directly towards westeros now. But i know he would have been soundly defeated. The blackfyre rebellion had proven it. A united westeros could raise quite a large army, of nearly ten times our own. But luckily for me, the opposite was going to occur.
I entered the tent of the golden company, and it was one of the most extragavant tent, i had ever seen. Glided golden covers and carpets, with ornamental decorations. But the golden skulls of the previous commanders sure made it's presence known.
There were eight people present in the tent, when i entered with my kingsguard Ser Jonothor Darry with Illyrio trailing behind us. I could recognize all of them, except for one. Myles Toyne the company commander, also known as blackheart, Harry Strickland the paymaster, Lysono Maar the spymaster, Black Balaq the commander of archers, Ser Willem Darry, Oberyn Martell, Jorah Mormont and the unknown person.
As soon as i entered, everyone rose to greet me, and i remembered what Daenerys in the show had said, "Viserys had once feasted with leaders of the golden company, after the feast when they heard his pleas they laughed at him."
But no one was laughing now, in these past sixteen years, i had proven myself to them. Though they knew that it was not me who had raised the army, they also knew that i commanded it. In sixteen years, i had founded a mercenary company and also had the funds to hire them. We had met several times already, i wanted to know how they operated and also to keep myself grounded. It would be be dangerous to remain clueless, about the workings of our army. I had them in my pockets, they knew it, but were just delaying due to their contract as they were unwilling to leave it unfinished.
"The plan is set in motion, Jon Arryn is dead."
"Yes, news has arrived from Kings Landing. Robert Baratheon has gone to Winterfell, Ned Stark will be the new hand now." said Illyrio Mopatis.
"Robert Baratheon will not live past this year, and with him having no legitimate heirs, the lions and the stags will tear each other apart, with the wolf caught in the middle of it."
"Then why are you heading east, instead of west. Striking them at their weakest point would be beneficial." said Blackheart.
"Yes, we will strike them when they are at their weakest. The newly formed kingdom would be wracked with various problems. We will capitalize on that, weakning them further till then we must increase our army and 20000 men are not enough to bring the seven kingdoms to heel."
"Dorne will be supporting you, so it's six kingdoms."
"No the crownlands is like a kingdom on it's own, and many of the Targaryen loyalists from there have been exiled. It is now in the clutches of Baratheon and Lannisters."
"But we cannot abandon our fight here, to head towards east. We promised you help to attack Westeros not Ghiscari." said Blackheart.
"I know, and i am not asking you to head east, but i will be expecting that your contract with Myr will be over by the time we return. You will be recceiving the funds from the Iron Bank soon, as the new king will settle his debt. Use it to build a fleet for our forces, we are lacking them currently. I will arrange one for the Ghiscari troops myself."
Everyone was puzzled at my confidence, i could tell that. They were trying to figure, how was i going to raise a army of the unsullied legion with nothing but my own company. My company was quite large but it paled in comparision to the unsullied legion in the slaver's bay. But no one questioned me on that, they were too smart for that. And i had delivered what i had said from time to time. So no one took my word lightly, but it was confusing for them as they were not able to figure out how i was going to do that.
The discussion continued for quite a long time, and by the end of it i was quite tired.
As we left the tent, i asked Jorah Mormont to follow us to our tent. He was very similar, as he was potrayed in the show. But i knew that he was the informant of Varys, so i was treading carefully.
"Tell me Ser Jorah, what does Varys wants to say." I asked him as soon as we entered our tent.
"Your grace, Ned Stark will become the new hand of the king. And the Usurper is riding from Kings Landing, along with his family and to Winterfell. The eldest Sansa Stark is to be betrothed to Joffery Waters."
There was an obivious distaste about Ned Stark, that could be easily be identified, through his voice. I walked near him and handed him a letter;
"I want you to do a very important task for me, and once again i stress it is very important. Varys can help you in completing it, the details regarding the task are in the letter, burn the letter after reading it. Come back to Myr, after completing the task. I will be coming here again, we will meet then. I hope you will not dissapoint me."
"I will not dissapoint you, i will return only after completing the task, your grace."
It was dusk, when they came in. I was flanked by my guards in the tent. Ser Jonothor, Ser Willem and the person from the meeting earlier today. They must have been duscussing something earlier, when i was with Jorah.
"Your grace, this is Lord Jon Connington, the lord of Griffin's Roost." introduced Ser Willem.
"Lord Connington, i have heard quite a lot about you."
He had seen him earlier today, at the meeting. But he was still shocked when he approached him as he spoke.
He looked just like him, it was like watching a ghost. The same hair, same eyes and the same face, that he looked like a second coming of Rhaegar. Only their tempraments were diffrent, Rhaegar gave a feeling of melancholy, while he had an air of confidence that surrounded him.
"Your grace, i am a failure, i failed your family and at the task that had been given to me. But i want to right my wrongs, please give me a chance to serve you."
It was not your fault, that day Lord Connington no matter how much you convince yourself otherwise. And what my father did to you was wrong, but then again he was known as the mad king was he not. There is no use wallowing in the past, when future offers us so many possibilities. So do you swear to serve House Targaryen with your hand, heart and voice?"
"I do, i swear it by the Old Gods and the New."
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