After the birth of his silver-haired son, Prince Vaelen Targaryen, a small boy who had his mother's sapphire like eyes, Prince Aemond and Ser Criston decided to part ways. Cole would take command of their host and lead them south to join Ormund Hightower and Prince Daeron, but the Prince Regent would not accompany them. Instead, he meant to fight his own war, raining fire on the traitors from the air. Soon or late, "the bitch queen" would send a dragon or two to stop him, and Vhagar would destroy them. "She dare not send all her dragons," Aemond insisted. "That would leave King's Landing naked and vulnerable. Nor will she risk Syrax, or that last sweet son of hers."
Valaena also did not want to risk another one of her sons, insisting that Vaelen be sent to the South so he might be better protected, Ser Rickard Thorne is the knight who took the newborn trained and grew up with Lady Valaena. "War is no place for a child," she said to her husband, unaware that their daughter, Princess Aemma Targaryen, age six, had flown to war on Silverwing. Many thought the Princess Aemma Targaryen to be a sweet and innocent girl... not knowing that like her mother and siblings, she possessed the power of the dragon.
As per the marriage pact stating that after Valaena barred him two heirs, she demanded their marriage would be annulled. However, Aemond was now Prince Regent and refused such demands. Septon Eustace tells us that every flame lit in Harrenhal burned brighter as Lady Valaena and Prince Aemond argued that night.
"You are sworn to me now!" Aemond yelled, desperately, the ache in his chest almost unbearable now.
"Rhaenyra sits the Iron Throne now... I am bound to her." Her voice was cold as Aemond realized what she intended. "Despite everything you have done... I have done my duty, now let me go, Aemond. If you ever cared for me, you'll let me go."
Tears filled the prince's eye as he kneeled in front of Valaena, clutching her skirts. "Please, Valaena... don't do this. I never meant for this."
Should I have believed him this time? She thought to herself, looking up at the ceiling, trying to will her tears away. Should I forgive him for poisoning me? Perhaps. But in the end... She could not. Not when he was the reason why so many were dead. Why Jaehaerys was dead.
"I can't live like this anymore, issa jorrāelagon." Aemond sobs into the silk of her dress, his arms tightening around her, and she hums softly.
"Just pretend," she murmurs. "That's what I do. We don't get a happy ending, not anymore. You made sure of that."
Dread sets in now, his gut twisting around his muscles and tendons, and he wishes it would stop his heart.
"Choices have consequences."
Valaena reaches down and gently untangles him from her skirts, leaving the Kinslayer kneeled down on the floor, alone, sobbing at the loss of his mate.
And thus did the Kingmaker, Kinslayer, and the Dragon Shifter part, each to their own fate, whilst at the Red Keep Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen set about rewarding her friends and inflicting savage punishments on those who had served her half-brother.
Huge rewards were posted for information leading to the capture of the "the usurper styling himself Aegon II"; his daughter, Jaehaera; the "false knights" Willis Fell and Rickard Thorne; and Larys Strong the Clubfoot. When that failed to produce the desired result, Her Grace sent forth hunting parties of "knights inquisitor" to seek after the "traitors and villains" who had escaped her, and punish any man found to have assisted them.
Queen Alicent was fettered at wrist and ankle with golden chains, though her stepdaughter spared her life "for the sake of our father, who loved you once." Her own father was less fortunate. Just as he had predicted, Ser Otto Hightower, who had served three kings as Hand, was the first traitor to be beheaded. Lady Viserra had been the one to do it. "You have been a thorn in my mother's side all these years... but now that will be no more." She unsheathed her sword. "In the name of Rhaenyra of the House Targaryen, the First of her Name, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lady of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, by the word of Viserra Strong of House Valar, Lady of Winterfell and Wardeness of the North. Mistress of War and loyal servant, I sentence you to die."
Otto looked up at her, a smirk coming over his features. "Surely you must know how I convinced him to take the throne, Viserra. You are his weakness after all." Viserra hesitated for a moment before killing him with a swift and mighty blow.
Ironrod followed him to the block, still insisting that by law a king's son must come before his daughter.
Tyland was taken and given to Rhaenyra's torturers, Viserra and Vaegon, in the hopes that some of the Crown's treasury could be recovered. However, Tyland Lannister refused to tell where the gold had been sent, despite being blinded, gelded, burned, and mutilated by the Strong twins.
It was fear of losing the support of such lords, that the lands, castles, and coin of Houses Rosby and Stokeworth were awarded to the since of the two executed lords, whilst Hugh Hammer and Ulf White were knighted and granted small holdings on the isle of Driftmark.
Mushroom tells us that Hammer celebrated by beating one of the queen's household knights to death in a brothel on the Street of Silk when two men quarrel over the maidenhood of a young virgin, whilst White rode drunkenly through the alleys of Flea Bottom, clad in naught but his golden spurs. These are the sorts of tales that Mushroom loves to tell, and their veracity cannot be ascertained... but beyond a doubt, the people of King's Landing soon grew to despise both of the queen's new-made knights.
Even less loved, if that be possible, was the man Her Grace chose as her lord treasurer and master of coin: her longtime supporter Bartimos Celtigar, Lord of the Claw Isle. Lord Celtigar seemed well suited for the office: staunch and unwavering in his support of the queen, he was unrelenting, incorruptible, and ingenious, all agreed, and very wealthy in the bargain. Rhaenyra had dire need of such a man, for she found herself in desperate need of coin. Though the Crown had been flush with gold upon the passing of King Viserys, Aegon II had seized the treasury along with the crown, and his master of coin, Tyland Lannister, had shipped off three-quarters of the late king's wealth "for safekeeping." King Aegon had spent every penny of the portion kept in King's Landing, leaving only empty vaults for his half-sister when she took the city. The rest of Viserys;s treasure had been entrusted to the Hightowers of Oldtown, the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, and the Iron Bank of Braavos, and was beyond the queen's grasp.
When the Velaryon fleet had closed the Gullet, a great many ships found themselves trapped at King's Landing. The queen's new master of coin now assessed heavy fees on all such before he would allow them to sail. Some captains protested that they all had already paid the required duties, taxes, and tariffs, and even produced papers as proof, but Lord Celtigar dismissed their claims. "Paying coin to the usurper is proof of naught but treason," he said. "It does not decrease the duties owed to our gracious queen." Those who refused to pay, or lacked the means, had their ships and cargoes seized and sold except one ship, the Black Swan, the ship rumored to have taken Prince Viserys. Captain Alysanne Swann, the daughter of Johanna Swann and her men killed every man that tried to seize her ship.
Her first mate had been killing the knights trying to come aboard when Lady Viserra had arrived. However, the feared Mistress of War froze when she saw the young man, letting them be able to escape.
The man had dark curls that were cut short... but his eyes, his eyes were red. They same as Lady Viserras eyes.
Soon even the executions became a source of coin. Henceforth, Celtigar decreed, traitors, rebels, and murderers would be beheaded within the Dragonpit, and their corpses fed to the queen's dragons. All were welcome to bear witness to the fate that awaited evil men, but each must pay three pennies at the gates to be admitted.
Thus did Queen Rhaenyra replenish her coffers, at grievous cost. The girl that the people of the city once cheered as the Realm's Delight had grown into a grasping and vindictive woman, men said, a queen as cruel as any king before her. One wit named Rhaenyra "King Maegor with teats," and for a hundred years thereafter "Maegor's Teats" was a common curse amongst Kingslanders.
With the city, castle and throne in her possession, defended by no fewer than six dragons, Rhaenyra felt secure enough to send for her sons. A dozen ships set sail from Dragonstone, carrying the queen's ladies, and her son Aegon the Younger. Rhaenyra made the boy her cupbearer, so he might never be far from her side. Another fleet set out from Gulltown with Prince Joffrey, the last of the queen's three sons by Laenor Velaryon, together with his dragon Tyraxes. Her Grace began to make plans for a lavish celebration to mark Joffrey's formal installation as Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne.
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In the fullness of her victory, Rhaenyra Targaryen did not suspect how few days remained to her. Yet every time she sat the Iron Throne, its cruel blades drew fresh blood from her hands and arms and legs, a sign that all could read. Septon Eustace claims the queen's fall began at an inn called the Hogs Head in the town of Bitterbridge on the north bank of the Mander, near the foot of the old stone bridge that gave the town its name.
With Ormund Hightower besieging Longtable some thirty leagues to the southwest, Bitterbridge was crowded with men and women fleeing before his advancing host. The widowed Lady Caswell, whose lord husband had been butchered by Valaena Valar at King's Landing when he refused to renounce the queen, had closed her castle gates, turning away even anointed knights and lords when they came to her seeking refuge. Every inn was full, even the Hogs Head, a dismal Sty of a hostelry. So, when a man appeared from the north with a staff in one hand and a small newborn babe in the other wrapped tightly in a blanket, the innkeep had no room for him... until the traveler pulled a silver stag from his purse. Then the innkeep allowed that he and his son might bed down in his stables, provided he first mucked them out. The traveler agreed, setting aside his pack and cloak as he went to work with spades and rake amidst the horses.
The proprietor of the Hogs Head, a scoundrel who went by the name Ben Buttercakes, wondered if there might be more silver stags where there had been one. As the traveler worked up a sweat, Buttercakes offered to slake his thirst with a tankard of ale. The man accepted and accompanied the innkeep into the Hogs Head's common room, little suspecting that his host had instructed his stableboy, known to us only as Sly, to search his pack for silver. Sly found no coin within, but what he did find was far more precious... for when he peeled back the heavy cloak of fine white wool bordered in snowy satin wrapped around the newborn babe, silver tufts of hair were upon his head. For the traveler's "son" was Vaelen Targaryen, the son of Aemond Targaryen and Valaena Valar, and the traveler was Ser Rickard Thorne of the Kingsguard.
Ben Buttercakes got no joy from his deceit. When Sly burst into the common room with cloak and babe in hand, shouting of his discovery, the traveler threw the dregs of his tankard into the innkeep's face, ripped his longsword from its sheath, and opened Buttercakes from neck to groin. A few of the other drinkers drew swords and daggers of their own, but none were knights, and Ser Rickard cut his way through them. Abandoning the stolen treasures, he scooped up his "son," fled to the sables, stole a horse, and burst from the inn, hell-bent for the old stone bridge and the south side of the Mander. He had come so far, and surely knew that safety lay only thirty leagues farther one, where Lord Hightower sat encamped beneath the walls of Longtable.
Thirty leagues had as well been thirty thousand, alas, for the road across the Mander was closed, and Bitterbridge belonged to Queen Rhaenyra. A hue and cry went up. Other men took horses in pursuit of Rickard Thorne, shouting, "Murder, treason, murder."
Hearing the shouts, the guards at the foot of the bridge bade Ser Rickard halt. Instead, he tried to ride them down. When one man grasped his horse's bridle, Thorne took his arm off at the shoulder and rode on. But there were guards on the south bank too, and they formed a wall against him. From both sides men closed in, red-faced and shouting, brandishing swords and axes and thrusting with long spears, as Thorne turned this way and that, wheeling his stolen mount in circles, seeking some way through their ranks.
It was the crossbows that finally brought him down. One bolt took him in the arm, the next through the throat. Ser Rickard tumbled from the saddle and died upon the bridge, with blood bubbling from his lips and drowning his last words. To the end he clung to the babe he had sworn to Lady Valaena he'd defend, until a washerwoman called Willow Pound-Stone tore the weeping prince from his arms.
Having slain the knight and seized the babe, however, the mob did not know what to do with the prize. When someone asked if the reward was the same whether the boy was alive or dead, Willow Pound-Stone clutched Vaelen tighter and said no one was going to hurt her new son. Then Sly same shoving through the crowd, covered in his master's blood, to declare the prince was his, as he'd been the one to find out their true identity. The crossbowman whose bolt slain Ser Rickard Throne made a claim as well. And so, they argued, shouting and shoving above the knight's corpse.
With so many present on the bridge, it is not surprising that we have many differing accounts of what befell Vaelen Targaryen. Mushroom tells us that Willow Pound-Stone clutched the babe so tight that she broke his back and crushed him to death. Septon Eustace does not so much as mentioned Willow, however. In his account, the town butcher hacked the prince into six pieces with his cleaver, so all those fighting over him could have a piece. Grand Maester Munkun says that the babe was torn limb from limb by the mob, but names no names.
All we know for certain is that by the time Lady Caswell and her knights appeared to chase off the mob, the prince was dead. Her ladyship went pale at the sight of him, Mushroom tells us, saying, "The gods will curse us all for this." Ser Rickard's corpse, wrapped in his white cloak, Lady Caswell sent back to King's Landing, together with Prince Vaelen's head.
Mushroom tells us that Rhaenyra wept when Vaelen's small head was placed before her as she sat the Iron Throne. Viserra unhooked her cloak, gently wrapping her brother's head in it before taking him to Cannibal to be burned as tears streamed down her cheeks. Though no announcement of the boy's death was made, word of his demise nonetheless spread throughout the city all the way to Harrenhal. Prince Aemond is said to have flown to Hogs Head but when he got there it was already burned. Septon Eustace tells us that Lady Caswell claimed a woman wearing the face of Sly had slaughtered them all before burning their remains until there was nothing left but ash and bone.
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In the riverlands, Ser Criston Cole abandoned Harrenhal, striking south along the western shore of the Gods Eye, with thirty-six-hundred men behind him. Prince Aemond had already departed, flying Vhagar.
No longer tied to castle or host, the one-eyed prince, consumed by anger and grief was free to fly where he would. It was war as Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters had once waged it, fought with dragonflame, as Vhagar descended from the autumn sky again and again to lay waste to the lands and villages and castles of the riverlords. House Darry was the first to know the prince's wroth. The men bringing in the harvest burned or fled as the crops went up in flame, and Castle Darry was consumed in a firestorm. Lady Darry and her younger children survived by taking shelter in vaults under the keep, but her lord husband and his heir died on their battlements, together with two scores of his sworn swords and bowmen. Three days later, it was Lord Harroway's Town left smoking. Lord's Mill, Blackbuckle, Buckle, Claypool, Swynford, Spiderwood... Vhagar's fury fell on each in turn, until half the riverlands seemed ablaze and Rhaenyra sent her Mistress of War.
A/N: How are we feeling? Comments and Votes are always greatly appreciated; they are what keep me writing <3