Chapter XIII: The Dream
A storm. It was a storm, the worst he had ever seen, more powerful than a dragon, more violent than the vilest of men, as destructive as the Doom of Valyria itself.
Jon stood on the stern of a modest Essossi ship, clinging to the rudder as one clings to life, vainly trying to navigate through the raging sea and the lightning-decorated hurricane.
He was soaked from head to toe, his Night's Watch uniform weighing so heavy that it did much to keep his two feet balanced.
His gaze was focused hard on the sea that the bow of his ship was trying to carve. He tried in vain to ignore the cries of fear and the moans of horror of the White Worm which had wrapped itself around the egg. Not an egg. The Egg. The Black Dragon Egg. The tremors became stronger and stronger, the sea took hold of the ship, Jon lost control of the rudder which shattered his side. He nevertheless managed to remain standing, and as he pushed to regain control of the ship, he watched in horror as the worm and egg rolled down the deck. the multiple collisions between the shells and the wood crushed the White Worm, forcing it to loosen its grip around the egg and crash against the mast while the egg continued its journey to the bow. It was then that a wave, even more gigantic than the previous ones, rose up to its full height and length like a hungry bird of prey. While climbing it, the boat suddenly righted itself, the egg stopped its descent at the top of the bowsprit, before rushing back down the same bridge at full speed.
Stuck under the rudder, Jon could only widen his eyes when he saw the egg hit his face. But instead of breaking his nose like a real dragon egg would have done, it shattered like glass against his skull, covering him in blood. And that's when Jon saw a baby, not a baby dragon, but a real baby fall back onto the deck screaming in terror and pain. Jon reached out to grab its foot, but he was too far away and the gigantic wave that had formed in front of them crashed onto the deck, swallowing them both into the abyss of the depths.
Jaehaeron Targaryen woke up covered in sweat, pale as a corpse, his facial features distorted with terror.
He looked around frantically for fifteen seconds before realizing he had been having a nightmare. Exhausted and still horrified, he let his head fall back onto his pillow but shivered when he realized his bed was wet with his sweat.
Realizing that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, Jon got out of bed, got dressed, put on his boots and went out of his room to let the cold air of a northern night cool his temperature.
Dawn was no longer far away, but the night remained dark, Jon grabbed a torch and began to wander around the castle without a specific goal.
"Halt! Who goes there?!" A guard pointed his spear at him.
"It is just me." Jon responded while bringing his torch closer to his face to illuminate it better.
"My prince?" Gods it was weird to hear a Winterfell guard call him that. "What are you doing here? Did you have a nightmare or something?"
Jon was too ashamed to confirm the man's suspicions.
"I'm just not sleepy anymore." He lied. "I need to get some fresh air."
"You want to see your twin?"
Jon grimaced, the guards and staff at Winterfell had apparently agreed to nickname him and Aevyr 'the purple twins'. His cousin had kicked the guard who had laughed at them by using that nickname.
"Is he awake already?"
"He never sleeps much. He scares the servants when he lurks in the dark, they thought he was a ghost."
"Gods...Ghost..." How he missed him.
"Where is he?"
"At the library. Well... I think. That's what I heard while we were doing our patrols, we ain't used to seeing him there alone."
"He must have started working on his own to avoid having to endure too many lessons from me." Jon guessed, thanking the guard with a nod.
"Thanks...uh..."
"Alaric, my Prince, like the former Lord of Winterfell."
"Thank you, Alaric." And Jon went on his way.
As he climbed the stairs, he thought about his nightmare, and what he had seen that had so horrified him.
"This must mean something." He thought. "I didn't know what was in the egg before it broke, but I was already horrified. That must mean I knew, well... I know... I know what that egg represents... But I don't remember... And the worm... Gods... when have I ever encountered a worm that caught my attention? No one in the Seven Kingdoms has a worm on his banner."
He hung his torch at the entrance to the library, but when he discovered it plunged into darkness, he grabbed one of the candles placed on a table near the entrance, lit it with the flame of his torch and sank between the giant shelves full of books and parchments. Aevyr was not difficult to find, the glow of its candles betraying its location. His bastard cousin was sitting at one of the desks located in a dark corner, away from the aisles and other offices.
"What are you doing here?" Aevyr asked, throwing the pile of parchment along with the one he was writing on into the darkness.
"Good morning to you too." Jon smiled and sat down next to him.
Aevyr ignored his greeting.
"You've been here for many moons and you've never woken up at this hour. What's happening to you? Did you have a nightmare?"
Jon grimaced.
"You had a nightmare." Aevyr looked up at the ceiling. "And you came here for me to comfort you like a nanny?"
"No, I thought you could help me."
Aevyr frowned.
"Help you with what? Sleeping?"
"Understanding my dream."
Surprisingly, the bastard seemed particularly interested.
"Are you a greenseer?"
"Maybe." Jon lied. "Targaryens have prophetic dreams too."
"Do they now?" He seemed less interested. "And what was so terrible about this nightmare?"
Jon told him all the details of his dream, although he replaced the fear with the 'need to save the egg and the baby', Aevyr would have laughed at him for hours otherwise.
The bastard leaned back in his chair.
"Maybe you'll knock up a worm and it'll shit an egg." His joke didn't amuse Jon.
"Does it bother you that much that I came to ask you for advice?"
"You should have gone and woken Maester Alim to ask him for some dream wine instead of bothering me. It's a fucking dream, Jon, what do you want me to do with it?"
"I know it's important, all my dreams are."
Aevyr gave him such a contemptuous and dismayed look that Jon had to refrain himself from hitting him.
"I know it sounds crazy when I say it like that..."
"You know what?" Aevyr interrupted, already bored by this conversation. "I'll help you, until the time to break our fast comes. But no matter what we find out or not, you'll owe me a big favor once this is over."
"I thank you." Jon said in a sarcastic tone devoid of gratitude.
"Don't mention it." Aevyr replied in the same tone. "So...your fucking dream...what does the worm inspire you?"
Jon frowned warily.
"Why are you so interested in the worm?"
"Because it has no business being in your dream." Aevyr replied as if it were obvious. "The Dragon Egg, the Baby, the Ship… You've already seen all this or it has a direct connection to you, but the worm... What the hell is a worm doing around a Dragon egg?"
These words plunged Jon into an abyss of perplexity, Aevyr was right, he had never seen a white worm.
"There's also the ship...and the storm. I've never sailed in a storm, I've never touched a rudder in my life."
"Why would you since you have a dragon?" Aevyr shrugged. "What do you think the egg and the baby represent? They're the only pieces of the puzzle you know."
Jon clasped his hands over his mouth in thought.
"Well... It is a tradition in House Targaryen to place a Dragon egg in the cradle of a newborn. It is believed that if the egg hatches, the bond between the dragon and the child will be all the stronger."
"Vermithor didn't come out of your egg."
"No." Jon confirmed. "My egg didn't hatch, but my egg was black... like the one in my dream."
Aevyr raised an eyebrow, perhaps he wasn't as uninterested as he had claimed.
"You know... as much as I really want to think that the White Worm is your cock, and that it's too flaccid to properly impregnate a wench... Maybe the worm actually represents the low birth of a woman... Maybe you'll knock up a whore in Fleabottom."
Jon looked horrified at this prospect, Aevyr laughed out loud as he saw his face.
"You're not going to tell me that our handsome Prince doesn't have a taste for whores."
"I will never father a bastard." Jon thundered, before remembering he was speaking to a bastard. But the latter shrugged his shoulders.
"Unlike your father." Aevyr replied sarcastically.
And that's when Jon understood, and his eyes widened in horror.
He had completely forgotten her, how could he have remembered her? He who, during his childhood, only had eyes for knights and warriors? This woman, Maester Luwin himself, had said nothing to him about her. He had only read his name once, when he was leafing through Archmaester Gyldayn's 'Death of Dragons'.
Mysaria...Prince Daemon's Master of Whisperers.
"Oh no..."
"Had an epiphany?" Aevyr mocked him, though he still looked interested. But Jon wasn't listening to him anymore.
"The White Worm... there is a whore in King's Landing who has been nicknamed like that by her enemies..."
Aevyr couldn't seem to believe his ears.
"Seriously?" His tone was exasperated, and at the same time, fascinated. "So you're going to knock this whore up?"
"Not me!" Jon was outraged by Aevyr's behavior, how could he speak so lightly? "You don't understand! My father impregnated her! This baby is my sibling! Not my child!"
Silence.
Aevyr's gaze betrayed a certain amount of perplexity, coupled with a disturbing fascination, the flame of his candle considerably intensified the darkness of his violet eyes. Jon shivered.
Aevyr sighed deeply, but his face remained unchanged.
"Do you realize it was just a dream? I'm asking you this because I'm afraid you'll do something stupid."
Jon slammed his fist on the table.
"You don't understand! She's pregnant! She's going to lose the child! My sibling!"
"And what the fuck are you going to do?!" Aevyr's voice boomed in such a way that Jon was slightly taken aback. "Fuck, Jon, let's pretend for a moment that you're right! What the fuck are you going to do?! Fly to King's Landing?! And then what? You're not a maester, what the fuck can you even do to prevent a miscarriage?! At best you will be a spectator. And what if you are wrong?! If she is not pregnant and you fled Winterfell for a fucking dream, what the hell do you think is going to happen? You would humiliate Father, you are his ward, you can't do as you please! You would never be welcome in Winterfell again, the entire Realm will take you for a madman! So I ask you again; what are you going to do?"
Jon didn't know what to answer... He couldn't admit to his bastard cousin that he knew that Mysaria would lose the child by crossing the Narrow Sea. He had only just remembered it when he interpreted his dream. However, he could not blame him; he would cause a huge scandal by escaping from Winterfell on the back of a Dragon to fly to King's Landing, and beg his uncle not to banish Mysaria. But would his uncle at least listen to him? It was more likely that he would punish him severely for daring to run away from Winterfell. No, the only person who could listen to him and do something was his father. Daemon would listen to him, Daemon wouldn't care that he flew away from Winterfell. Daemon would take his warnings seriously and save the child, that was all that mattered.
"You're right..."
Aevyr was not fooled.
"You're still going to do it, aren't you?"
Jon grimaced, since his cousin already knew him so well, he no longer had any reason to lie.
"I have to do it."
"The child will be a bastard."
Jon's look of dismay made Aevyr sneer, he lowered his head sheepishly.
"Okay, that's very rich coming from me."
"Yes it is."
Aevyr shook his head, smiling, he looked at Jon with… a mix of amusement and fascination.
"You're really going to humiliate my Father for a dream?"
"I won't be humiliating him, I'm going to save my sibling!"
"You're insane."
Jon had had enough, he suddenly got up.
"I don't care what you think, I don't care what anyone thinks, I'm going to save my sibling!"
He turned on his heels, but Aevyr caught his wrist. Jon turned back to free himself but his cousin tackled him to the ground. The Prince tried to wrestle his way up, but Aevyr was taller and stronger, he managed to pin him the library's ground. The disturbing smile on his face, creeped Jon out.
"Here's what's going to happen, cousin; I'm coming with you, just to make sure you won't get yourself killed and to make sure you'll return to Winterfell to face my Father's wrath should that little getaway of yours be for nothing. But if your sibling is real, if you going down South will save it, then I want something in return."
Jon was furious, he struggled to break out but Aevyr's grip remained firm.
"You piece of shit." The Targaryen Prince spat.
"You're one to talk, you think I'm gonna let you humiliate my Father without some kind of compensation in return? Hear me out, Jaehaeron, or I'm not letting you go and I'll make sure Father will stop you from making anything stupid."
"What in the World do you want?"
"A promise." Aevyr said between his teeth. "A mutual promise."
Jon instantly stoped struggling, he had expected his bastard cousin to ask him for gold and opportunities, but he should have known better since their conversation near the forge, Aevyr only cares about one thing.
"Promise me, that if anything should happen to me, you will take care of my sibling and any other my aunt will bear. That includes defending their right to Winterfell. In return, should you die or being unable to defend that dreamy sibling of yours, then I promise, I'll take care of it. And if all of this was just a bunch of nonsense and your dream was just a dream, then you'll still keep your promise. Are we in agreement?"
Jon sighed in defeat.
"We are."
"Swear it."
And he did.
(-)(-)(-)
Rickon Stark knew something was wrong the moment he did not see his son at the morning meal. Instead of breaking his fast, he went out to look for his son and nephew, and frowned in confusion when he saw Vermithor take off to the sky straight from the castle's entrance, which made no sense. He went to the gate and caught one of his guards.
"Why was the dragon so close this morning, my nephew usually goes to it when he wishes to ride it."
"He said his beast was agitated this morning, my Lord." The guard answered. "He said he needed to ride it in order to calm it down."
Rickon frowned, this made no sense.
"Oh, and your bastard told me to give you this." The man said as he handed him a piece of paper. "He said you had commanded him to show you the results of his hard work before the morning meal, he apologized for his absence and said he needed to go with the Prince to make sure he and his dragon wouldn't get lost in the North."
The Lord of Winterfell's eyes widened, was this man a dolt?
"What kind of joke are they pulling?" Rickon thought, annoyed as he unfolded the paper.
Father,
Jon had a profetic dream in wich he so a woman impregnated by his Father, lose his bastard sibling. Yes I no, it sounds insayn, yet he's determined to mont his damn dragon and flai South no mater the consekuenses. So Ive decided to go with him, just to make shure he doz not get himself killed or to take the blame for him should his dream be tru. I no you're mad, Father. I am sory, just no that I would do the same for the babe your waif is carrying. I don't no wat he is going to do, I don't no if it'll work, but I'll make shure he stays alive, I'll make shure his sibling survives -if I can or if the sibling exists, wich I'm stil not shure-, and if I succid then Jon has promised he will protect my unborn sibling, as well as wat is his or hers by right.
Your son,
Aevyr.
Rickon reread the letter multiple times, just to make sure Aevyr's abominable orthography was not distorting the actual content of this message, once he was sure of what the information. He hesitated. His first reflex was to roar in anger at the boys for doing as they pleased, flouting his authority as Warden, Uncle and Father like it was nothing. Rebellious boys were complicated, rebellious Targaryens were far worse because of their damn flying lizards. Rickon had heard the story of Aerea Targaryen who had ran away from her mother on the Black Dread itself. He couldn't possibly imagine what kind of catastrophe those two idiotic boys would cause in the South, and how much of a dolt his nephew was for acting so recklessly for a damn dream.
Rickon exhaled loudly, he needed to calm down, he was the Warden of the North, he needed a cool head to make a decision.
He looked up to see Vermithor disappear into the clouds, and an unpredictable wave of sadness hit his heart as he remembered the two boys wrestling in the dust in the Godswoods.
He remembered his prayer, he remembered what he had prayed for, his hard face softened for a bit as he furrowed his brows in confusion and sadness.
"Is this the work of the Gods?" He wondered. "Have they gifted my nephew the ability to save his sibling? If I keep him close to my side, will he save my child as well."
He read the letter again and sighed. Aevyr was doing his duty to his family, like he had taught him to… He would still be severely punished for flying away with his cousin. And Jaehaeron… Rickon prayed for him that his dream had indeed been a vision, and not a dream, he prayed that this bastard sibling of his was real, if it was, Rickon would punish him, but forgive him, he would need him. If it was not, Jaehaeron would never step foot on Northern ground ever again, this he vowed.
"May the Old Gods watch over you two." He murmured.
To read early
Chapter 14: 'The Prince of Dragonstone'
Chapter 15: 'Stormborn'
Chapter 16: 'Siblings & Bastards'
Chapter 17: 'The Punishment'
Chapter 18: 'Blood and Tears.'
Chapter 19: 'Despair'
Chapter 20: 'A bundle of Joy'
Chapter 21: 'Starfallen'
Chapter 22: 'What women think'
Chapter 23: 'Return'
Chapter 24: 'For the Realm'
Chapter 25: 'The Heir for a Day"
Chapter 26: 'Preparing for the Future'
Chapter 27: 'Through Winter, We Burn.'
Chapter 28: 'Eyes Everywhere but where it mattered the most
Chapter 29: 'Cursed'
support me on
w w w . p a t r(e)on (slash) MonsieurLAH