LION'S LEGACY
13. Rhaegal
Hours later, Tyrion arrived at the Red Keep after deciding to speak with Annalys alone. For some reason, he thought it was a great idea. He believed he'd be able to talk some sense into Annalys about everything and she wouldn't arrest him right then and there. But was that the truth?
The Lannister man walked the halls of the Red Keep in silence, being escorted by Ser Edmyn. Just then, Tyrion turned his head, watching as Annalys' children ran by, giggling as they didn't even pay attention to him. His eyes widened at the sight, counting six, one of them including Olyvar.
Varys was right. Six children would die when Daenerys took the throne, seven if they included Torra, the girl he met on the journey to King's Landing from Dragonstone.
Soon enough, Tyrion found himself standing in front of Jaime, who stood on guard outside the room Annalys was in. "You spoke with her?" He questioned his elder brother curiously as he looked up at him.
"At her, until she kicked me out," Jaime responded in a calm tone, "I don't know what happened. She used to think you were capable of being pardoned. For some reason, she's changed her mind. She thinks I'm an idiot for ever thinking you would surrender."
"I'm about to step into a room with the most ruthless woman in the world who wants me dead," Tyrion pointed out to Jaime in a frustrated tone, "Who's an idiot?"
"I suppose we should say goodbye, one idiot to another," Jaime suggested, an uneasy look on his face.
He knew that when his daughter wanted someone dead, they ended up dead soon after.
Tyrion smiled sadly at his brother. "I brought this upon myself. I shouldn't have betrayed her," He responded, looking almost ashamed by the mention, "She isn't the girl I once knew. She's more her mother than she is you now."
"Worse," Jaime suddenly corrected him, causing Tyrion to stare at him with wide eyes, clearly beginning to feel concerned, "I wish you the best of luck. I haven't the slightest clue on whether or not you'll leave that room alive."
Tyrion took a deep breath, just before Ser Edmyn led him into the council chamber alongside Ser Rickard Royce.
The second she saw Tyrion enter, Annalys wasted no time speaking up, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, Uncle. She seems to be your kind of woman. A foreign bitch who doesn't know her place." She commented with an attitude, "Does Shae ring a bell?"
"A foreign whore you can't beat or intimidate. That must be difficult for you," Tyrion retorted, ignoring the mention of Shae.
"So you bring her here, into my home, where my children live. For what?" She questioned, letting out a loud humorless laugh, "It got us nowhere."
"Annalys, I—" He began to say, an uneasy look on his face.
Annalys glared at Tyrion angrily, wasting no time cutting him off. "What have you done, Uncle?" She found herself asking Tyrion, whose eyes widened as genuine tears filled Annalys' eyes, "I spent my whole life defending you, loving you despite my mother saying you were nothing to us. I fought in a trial by combat to save you and how do you repay me? By pledging loyalty to a foreign Queen that wants to burn me alive? I am your family and you betrayed me. You betrayed our entire family!"
"I didn't mean for it to happen like this, Annalys. You must know that," Tyrion responded, giving the woman a sympathetic look, "When I became her Hand, I didn't know about my father dying or you becoming Queen of the Westerlands."
"Really? I don't believe that," She argued, despite it being a lie, "Even if Grandfather died, you still despised this family. You've despised all of us, I'm starting to believe. All you care about is the destruction of this family!"
"I am the one preventing that from happening, Annalys. Daenerys didn't want to debate and negotiate. She didn't want to bring you words. She wanted to bring you fire and blood until I advised her otherwise. I don't want to destroy our family. I never have." Tyrion complained, giving his niece a look of disbelief after she accused him of such a thing.
"I don't believe you. You had the chance to surrender today and you didn't. Do you understand I'm not the only one at risk if she takes the throne? My children are! All because of you. I should have you killed on the spot for it." Annalys explained threateningly, tears welled in her eyes as she spoke her venomous words.
"All right. You love your family, and I have threatened it. I will always be a threat," Tyrion found himself responding, giving Annalys an encouraging look, "So put an end to me. Kill me."
Hearing Tyrion's words, Annalys frowned, clearly not understanding what he was getting at. "What are you doing?" She asked, a deeply confused look on her face.
"If it weren't for me, Daenerys wouldn't be here. If it weren't for me, your children would be safe," Tyrion explained, thinking it was what Annalys wanted to hear. In truth, it wasn't. She didn't believe him to be at fault, she was just saying it to go along with what she had planned.
Watching as Tyrion took a step toward Annalys, Ser Edmyn readied to draw his sword. "Do it. Kill me," He encouraged her in a stern tone, "Do it, Annalys! If I'm such a threat, tell your men to kill me! You already killed Joffrey, what's killing another member of the family going to do?"
Annalys stared at Tyrion closely, watching as Ser Edmyn approached him. She wanted nothing more than to let it occur, but apart of her couldn't bear to watch the uncle she used to love so much die.
Annalys suddenly raised her hand, "Stop. Stand down," She demanded in a stern tone, causing Ser Edmyn to immediately stop where he was.
Tyrion stared at Annalys closely, beginning to feel as though Jaime was wrong. Perhaps the old Annalys wasn't entirely gone.
Tyrion walked over to a nearby table. He poured himself a glass of wine, immediately gulping it down before pouring another glass of wine for Annalys. He walked over to her, placing it on the table in front of her.
He poured a glass for himself as well, just before turning to face Annalys fully. "I am more sorry about your children being placed at harm's way than you could ever know." He stated, realizing that was the root of Annalys' anger toward him.
"I don't believe you," Annalys found herself arguing in a soft tone, tears threatening to spill from her hate-filled eyes.
"I don't care what you think. I've always cared about their wellbeing, even though I haven't met any of them personally. They're still my family, my blood. I care about them and I care about you, too. You know I do. You know it in your heart, if there's anything left of it. From what I can see, there's still some left in it, but not much." He explained, earning an almost amused look from Annalys.
"You should ask yourself why there isn't much left in my heart," Annalys found herself speaking up, causing Tyrion to frown in concern, "You have no idea what I've gone through to become Queen. You no idea how hard it was to release myself from Mother's grasp after spending years allowing myself be manipulated by her as she claimed it to be out of love. You have no idea how hard it was to die twice for doing something to save others," She confessed, causing Tyrion's eyes to widen in shock, "What you feel for the well-being of my family doesn't matter to me anymore. Your love doesn't matter to me. Your feelings don't matter, either. I don't care why you did what you did. I only care what it cost us. It cost us our future."
"If there's no future, then why are we here? Why did you allow me to come to meet with you?" Tyrion questioned Annalys, who tried her hardest not to smirk sadistically.
"I don't know, you tell me," Annalys replied sarcastically, refusing to give herself away.
Tyrion narrowed his eyes at Annalys. Instead of noticing how she seemed to be trying hardest not to smirk, he noticed the way she cradled her belly, which caused his eyes to widen in shock. She and Robb had been separated for nearly six months, meaning she was at least seven months pregnant.
"You're pregnant, aren't you?" She asked her in shock, slowly looking her in the eye.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is why I allowed you to come meet with me," She suddenly revealed, rising from her seat, "I didn't agree to this meeting to negotiate peace. It was a stall."
Hearing Annalys' words, Tyrion immediately frowned in concern. "What?" He asked softly, beginning to feel betrayed.
"The Golden Company is attacking the Dothraki and Unsullied waiting outside the city walls as we speak. I offered her peace in exchange for you and she refused. You were a fool to come here, Uncle. You've given me exactly wanted. Now that I have you, I don't need to holdback my armies," She explained and due to feeling so betrayed, Tyrion hadn't even realized that Annalys was practically sparing him, "Take him away. Put him in the dungeons." She ordered as she turned to look at Ser Edmyn and Ser Rickard.
"What have you done?" He asked Annalys, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Annalys remained silent, glaring at Tyrion. The doors to the council chambers ordered and Jaime watched in utter disbelief as Tyrion was dragged away.
As Annalys exited the room as well, Jaime turned to stare at his daughter in shock. "What have you done?" He asked her, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"I lost Randyll Tarly and thousands of Lannister men. It seems Daenerys Targaryen should lost someone as well." She informed her father in a calm tone, beginning to smile, "Now, I have a battle to get to."
Jaime turned his head, watching in disbelief as Annalys walked away as if nothing happened.
_____
Along the Kingsroad outside of King's Landing, many armies loyal to Annalys, including Golden Company, fought Unsullied and Dothraki and much to Daenerys' dismay, her armies, for the first time ever, was greatly outnumbered.
Miles away from where the Unsullied and Dothraki forces fought Westerosi armies and the Golden Company, Daenerys attempted to use her two remaining dragons to defeat the Tyrell and Martell armies, who were the ones who remained with Annalys. Much to Daenerys' dismay, scorpions shot at both of her dragons, nearly hitting them.
Soon enough, one of ended up hitting Rhaegal and by the way he fell through the sky, Daenerys presumed him to be dead, which was exactly what Annalys and Robb wanted.
"Shoot the bloody scorpions!" Bronn shouted out, causing Annalys to turn to see him that he was one of the many people shooting scorpion bolts.
After being hit, Rhaegal let out a loud pain-filled screech as he fell through the air, heading straight for the ground.
The whole ground practically shook as the dragon finally hit the grass with a loud bang. Annalys immediately looked up, watching Daenerys stare at her dragon in horror and utter shock.
She already lost one dragon. Now, she was losing another, all because of Annalys. She felt herself consumed with rage, but due to the hundreds of scorpions pointed straight at Drogon, she'd never be able to kill them with dragonfire.
Believing her dragon to be dead, a sad look grew on Daenerys' face before she finally rode away on Drogon.
As soon as she and Drogon were out of sight, Rhaegal, who was presumed to be dead weakly rose up onto his feet, screeching and roaring at the men surrounding him.
Annalys watched in horror as numerous Dornish men threw spears at the green-colored dragon while others shot arrows. Rhaegal, however, continued to try and fight back, but failed miserably due to already being wounded.
The sounds of the dragon's pain-filled roars and screeches brought pain to Annalys for some odd reason. She didn't know why, but she didn't want him to be hurt anymore. That part was never included inside the book.
Annalys suddenly found herself closing her eyes, inhaling deeply as she was consumed with a feeling that told her exactly what to do next. It was just like the book, she needed to do this.
A small gasp escaped Annalys' parted lips as she opened her eyes to see Rhaegal continuing to fight against the men who tried to kill him. She couldn't let her men kill them, but how was she supposed to stop them from defending themselves?
One man who was standing in front of Rhaegal ended up being torn to pieces by the large dragon. The others who dared to try and attack him ended up being burnt to a crisp.
Each time Rhaegal roared in pain, Annalys felt as though she was feeling his pain as well.
Knowing what needed to be done, Annalys began to walk toward Rhaegal without showing even the slightest bit of fear.
Jaime, Edric, and Bronn stared at Annalys in disbelief, Jaime being the first one to call out Annalys' name and question her on what the hell she was doing. Robb, however, stood in place, watching his wife closely as he began to smile.
Annalys continued to walk toward Rhaegal, who was burning and roaring at numerous men who tried to get close to him. However, he paid no mind to Annalys, who was closer to him than anyone else was.
Once reaching Rhaegal, Annalys grabbed ahold of the scorpion bolt that was embedded into his side. Without a second thought, Annalys ripped the spear out of him.
Realizing what she had done, Rhaegal wasted no time turning to Annalys and before anyone could do anything about it, he roared as loud as he could in her face.
Annalys, however, found herself not flinching or even showing the slightest bit of fear as he did so, oddly enough.
The field fell into complete and total silence as each man watched their queen in disbelief. They couldn't understand it. Why hadn't Rhaegal burnt her to a crisp like every other person who dared to get too close to him?
Whether it was curiosity or familiarity when it came to Annalys, Rhaegal tilted his head slightly as his face found itself just inches away from Annalys'.
Annalys stared intently into the dragon's eyes, seeing something no other man there could. The dragon wasn't just any ordinary and viscous beast. He was more than that, just as the direwolves were.
Slowly, Annalys lifted her hand up, reaching out toward the dragon. She was on the verge of petting Rhaegal's snout when someone took it upon themselves to stab him with a spear.
Rhaegal immediately turned his attention to the men, screeching loudly.
"No! Stop! Stop!" Annalys screamed at her men in a pleading tone before it became stern, "I said, stop! I command you to stop!"
Knowing they couldn't refuse their queen's order, the men hesitantly stopped attacking the dragon. After knowing they had listened, Annalys reached out toward Rhaegal, who wasted no time turning his attention back to the woman he found himself beginning to bond with, oddly enough.
Ananlys stepped closer to Rhaegal and began to remove every single one of the spears embedded into the dragon's body.
Just then, the entire army loyal to Annalys watched in utter disbelief as she cautiously climbed onto Rhaegal's back as if it came naturally for her. Annalys grunted, nearly slipping as she climbed on since she didn't know what to grip onto at first.
She honestly didn't know what the hell she was doing, but something inside her was telling her to. It had been there since the moment she had the dream five years before.
As soon as Annalys grabbed ahold of Rhaegal to make sure she didn't fall off, the dragon leaped into the air with her riding on top of him. Rhaegal flapped his wings, immediately flying somewhere unbeknownst to Annalys.
Annalys tried her best to hold on as tight as she could, which was quite hard due to having no instruction on how to ride a dragon and how not to fall off.
As Annalys flew away while riding Rhaegal, she looked down to see all of her subjects staring at her in utter disbelief.
A Lannister riding a dragon. Now, that was something they thought they'd never see.
Robb smiled up as he watched Annalys ride away on Rhaegal. "She did it," He whispered to himself, clearly proud, "She really did it."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
It finally happened and Daenerys doesn't even know it cuz she thinks Rhaegal was killed.
But I warn you, the next two chapters are REALLY sad.
What do you think is gonna happen 🤔