Pre-Chapter A/N: Welcome to September, guys! Let's smash whatever goals we've set ourselves this year. More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio. Experimenting with two chapters a week, we'll see how long I can keep this up for.
XXXXX- LAENA VELARYON.
"Ser Ben, go get the Maester," she heard Mother say as Laenor began to close his eyes. Mother had left Daemon to come over to them now. The older man—she didn't know who he was… didn't care either. Laenor's body was burning up to the point that it was beginning to feel uncomfortable to hold him.
"No. We need to get him to Igneel," she said.
"What?"
"He asked for Igneel. We need to get him to Igneel," she argued.
"No. The Maester will know what to do in this situation. He's been poisoned. What would a dragon do about that?" Mother didn't seem to understand. Laenor wouldn't have asked for Igneel if he didn't think there was something the dragon could do.
"Bernard doesn't even have a link in medicine. He won't be able to do anything. Ser Ben, please," she begged the knight.
"My Lady?" He looked over at Mother.
"Seven give me strength. Let's go to the dragon," she sighed. Laena would have enjoyed the small victory if her brother wasn't dying on the floor right now. Ser Ben swung him into his grip and began to run. Laena and her mother followed, neither sparing much of a thought for the other person that had been poisoned. The one that presently lay on the floor dying… alone and unloved.
The halls of Bloodstone Keep were a blur to her eyes. Between the tears that had begun falling of their own volition and the speed at which they covered the castle, there was no chance for her to take note of the turns they took. Ser Ben, however, led them through the castle like he knew it as well as he knew his own hand. Of course, Laenor's incessant need to explore every nook and cranny of the place would pay some dividends.
"Is he still…" she heard Mother huff as they struggled to keep up with the knight, even though he was wearing a full suit of plate armour and carrying a teenage boy in his arms.
"He is, my Lady." Ser Ben's voice betrayed none of his own exhaustion. It took them what felt like an eternity to reach the castle's exit. And it struck her then just how empty the castle had been. Apart from the cooks and a skeleton crew of guards, they had been the only ones in the castle.
The doors swung open, and then they were in the courtyard. Igneel was waiting for them. He practically rushed their position, forcing Ser Ben to drop Laenor lest the dragon devour him.
This better work. Igneel let out a roar as he reached Laenor's position before nuzzling Laenor's head. Then came the whine, and that was the saddest sound Laena would ever hear in her life. She felt her eyes moisten anew. Were they too late? No. It wasn't possible. Before she could move, though, Igneel had leaned his head back and opened his mouth wide.
"Igneel, no!" she cried, her voice instantly swallowed by the roar of flames as her brother's dragon burnt his body.
She heard Mother let out a choked sob. She turned away as the flames began to die. She could not imagine seeing it. Her brother's charred corpse. She wanted to lash out. Lash out at the stupid fucking dragon. That was why Vhagar never liked it. Stupid lump of fire and scale. But all she felt inside was numb, cold, unfeeling. Laenor had been her other half in every way that mattered. No one would ever be able to understand her like he had. And she would never be able to understand anyone like she understood him. He was her twin in every way that mattered. They had been raised as two parts of a whole, and she would never be complete again. She should have taken him to the Maester and said fuck it to his ideas.
"Seven hells," she heard Ser Ben's words as the sound of the fire disappeared. Fuck. The body looked bad, didn't it? She heard Mother let out a gasp. Why did the gasp sound excited?
"That's impossible." It was Mother again. Laena turned, unable to contain her curiosity. Strangely, there was no smell of burnt flesh. She looked down at where Laenor's charred corpse should have been and instead found him surprisingly intact. Even better, his chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Almost like he was asleep rather than dead. She heard a soft sound. It couldn't be. She practically dove at him as she heard it again.
She placed her ear over his mouth. It was a snore. He was snoring. He was alive. Her brother was alive! She turned to the dragon then. "Thank you, Igneel," she said.
The lump of scale just had the audacity to snort at her like he had been able to hear her earlier, admittedly less-than-charitable thoughts about him. In her defence, she'd thought he'd just killed her brother.
"The unburnt," she heard Mother whisper as she approached.
"What?"
"There is a myth around our family. I only know about it because Father had been obsessed with such things. The idea of the unburnt. A person in whom Valyrian blood magic runs so strongly that even dragonfire fails to burn them. They didn't ever occur more than once a century. But they were said to be so blessed with magic that they inevitably became a blood mage. Their blood demanded it of them," she explained, leaning over Laenor's body as well.
"What does this mean for Laenor?"
"I don't know. It might not even mean anything. Valyria is gone now. What is the use of a blood mage without the Fourteen Flames to swear himself to? What I do know is that what happened here cannot ever be known to any but us four," she said, looking straight at Ser Ben as she said so.
"My sword and life are sworn to your son, my lady. If any of his secrets leak, then it shall not be from my lips," he said.
"But there is another problem, my lady," he said, sounding hesitant.
"Speak your piece, Ser."
"Prince Daemon, my lady," he said, and Laena froze. He'd been poisoned as well, hadn't he? They'd forgotten. All of them. They'd been so focused on Laenor that they hadn't even thought about the other person that had been poisoned.
She turned to Mother, seeing her pale as well. "Well, don't just stand there. Get the Maester to him," Mother said. Laena figured it was too late. Laenor had been dying in seconds. But then again, Daemon was bigger than Laenor was. So the poison might have needed more time with him to do its job. Poison. Pate.
"Mother, Pate," she said, turning to her.
"What?"
"The poison. It had to have come from Pate. We need to catch him before he escapes," she near-cried.
"Lock down the castle!" she screamed at the guard that began running out into the courtyard.
"Yes, my lady."
"I want Pate found and brought before me," she said, but Laena knew Pate would no longer be in the castle. He'd just assassinated a prince and a high lord, both of whom were dragonriders. There was no chance that he'd just sit and be waiting in the castle. He would have gotten out when he could. Probably the second he had given them their goblets. Laena reached into her bond with Vhagar and called her dragon.
"He won't be in the castle," she told Mother.
"A possibility. But what do you think you're doing?" she asked, turning to the sky where Vhagar's wingbeats could be heard.
"Vhagar and I are going to hunt him down. Show him what happens when you mess with House Velaryon."
"No, daughter. This man tried to kill Laenor. He's capable of anything. I don't want you putting yourself in danger." She gave her mother a flat look.
"With Vhagar with me, there is no danger in the world that matters." Vhagar landed outside the castle itself, unable to fit in the courtyard.
"Stay safe, Laena."
"I will, Mother. And please look after him for me," she said, leaning down to press a kiss on his forehead just like she used to all those years ago, when little Laenor and his cute faces had been the center of her world. That was before he learned to talk and began terrorizing her with his sense of humor.
She pushed herself to her feet and walked out to Vhagar.
Her dragon released a roar on seeing her.
"I'm fine, girl," she said, rubbing her nose and face.
"Someone did something stupid, girl. They tried to take what's mine," she whispered. Vhagar roared again. Good. The only person more possessive than Laena was Vhagar herself. She saw Laena as hers, and whatever belonged to Laena was Vhagar's as well.
"We're going hunting," she said, and Vhagar eagerly lowered her head for Laena to begin to climb. It took her little time to clip her chains on.
"Soves, Vhagar."
Vhagar turned about, marching down the ground and accelerating until she began to flap her wings, taking off into the sky in a matter of seconds. They couldn't shoot off from the ground in a second like Igneel and Laenor did, but this was quick enough for her. Especially because thanks to Vhagar's much larger wings, she could cover more distance in less time. They started east, moving towards the harbour. If Laena were Pate, she would be attempting to get off the island as quickly as possible. So she would have stocked a fishing boat or something near the harbour.
The lucky bit as far as she was concerned was that the harbour was one of the safer places to take a ship from the island. Just pushing off the island wouldn't end well for most people, considering the rocks that surrounded it would tear apart any ship that got too close to them as a matter of principle.
She and Vhagar cut through the air, searching the ground for anything of note. Laena could barely see the ground itself considering the darkness and their—what did Laenor call it again? Altikude? Yeah, that was it. Their altikude. How high they were. She chuckled, thinking about Laenor's incessant need to make up words for everything. It had driven her crazy when she was younger, wondering how Laenor always knew new words or strange things on his own. Well, at least until Mother had explained that Laenor had what he himself would refer to as an overactive imagination. Laenor didn't know a lot of shit. He was just born with the ability to make them up. A natural dreamer of House Targaryen. And now he was unburnt as well.
Laena didn't know what that would mean. But she did know that she would protect him from whatever came, no matter what. That was her duty as a big sister, after all. And she was the best big sister in the known world. A four-year-old Laenor had conferred the title upon her, and it was not going to be one she would let go of.
She felt Vhagar stir beneath her. She'd seen something. Vhagar was a brilliant huntress—experienced, keen, and most importantly, good at telling just what Laena wanted them to pick up. They dove downwards, and then Laena herself could see him. He was quite a distance away, and he must have spotted them. He was running, trying to escape them, it seemed. Laena scoffed at the thought. Escape? From her and Vhagar? There would be no escape. He was a few steps from the cliff. She looked beyond it. His boat was tied to the shore. There was going to be no chance for him to escape, she thought as Vhagar and her dove downwards further. He ran even faster. Faster than anyone had any right to move.
Guess Laenor was right that people can do unnatural things when they are desperate. He jumped, just as Vhagar swooped in to catch him. Her claws barely missed him as he landed in the water, the rushing waves instantly swallowing him. Nope. As if she would ever let things end like that. Vhagar and she turned about, diving downwards towards the water.
"Get him, girl," she said, as Vhagar landed in the water. Laena took a deep breath before the waves covered her head next. This was not the first time she would be going swimming with Vhagar. She would never advertise that fact to Mother. She'd heard all the warnings already and disregarded them. Vhagar was an experienced swimmer, unlike most dragons. And she knew how to take Laena's need for air into account. She tried opening her eyes only to find she could see nothing but silt and sediment. She just had to trust Vhagar's senses here.
And by the time thirty seconds had passed, Vhagar trilled with victory, and they were zooming out of the water. When they hit the shore, Vhagar spat something out from her mouth. It was Pate. Except that he was no longer Pate in any of the ways that mattered. He'd probably smashed into one of the rocks the second he entered the water. He was dead. How disappointing. She had been looking forward to the opportunity to question him about just where he had gotten the genius idea to poison her brother. Maybe he'd never get the chance to talk.
"Calm, Vhagar. Stay," she muttered as she unchained herself and began to walk over to the boat.
XXXXX- LAENOR VELARYON
Death was an interesting thing, I'd thought. The first time I had died, the next thing that happened was that I woke up to a squeezing sensation as Mother pushed me out. That particular memory was so traumatic that I'd blocked it out for the longest time. So when I felt myself die again and woke up to a squeezing sensation, I had thought the worst. Thankfully, I was still in my body. And the squeezing had come from Laena holding on to me while I slept in my quarters.
"How long have I been out?" I asked first once I felt my memories snap into place.
"Just a night," Laena replied, looking tired. Like she hadn't slept all night. I moved and wanted to get out of the covers before I realised I was completely naked.
"Can you…?" I asked, gesturing to the door. It was a reasonable request, I felt. I needed to dress up. So why then did she freeze like I'd asked her to jump off the Hightower?
"No chance, Laenor. I'm not leaving you."
"Well, unless you want to see me naked, you'd have to," I quipped instantly.
She looked like she was strongly considering that before she finally stood up and walked to my dresser.
"No. Don't even think about it." And then, over my protests, Laena began picking out clothes for me to wear.
"I'm still not changing with you in here," I said, not caring much about how petulant that might have sounded. I was still in the middle of puberty, and that meant my equipment was far from grown to its full size. Maybe if I had something more imposing to show off, I would have done so. But as things stood now, anything like that would just have Laena leaving here with the very wrong impression as to my potential. When you start behind the ball, you almost never make it ahead.
"I'll turn around," she said, doing so. And I knew her well enough to know that that was the best I was going to be able to get. I shimmied into my clothes quickly, doing it while still under my covers so in case she turned around, I would still have some protection. When I had my breeches on, I rolled to my feet. Years of training had given me an upper body physique to be proud of. At least there was something to thank Manfred for.
Laena turned back in my direction as I was shifting into my tunic.
"What happened?" I asked as I managed to squeeze in. It was a bit tighter than I remembered. Not disastrously so, just around the arms for the most part.
"Igneel made you better," she said. I nodded. I had figured out that much. I could feel his excitement through our bond clearer than ever. Probably some part of that had deepened our bond even further. I had previously been the one to offer Igneel my power, but it was a two-way link, and it seemed Igneel using his side of things had widened the link even further.
"I know that much. I mean, what else happened? Did anyone manage to get Pate for questioning?"
"I chased him, but he fell into the water. The idiot died in seconds from slamming into the walls. I only mourn that we didn't get to make him suffer before he did so. Ser Ben searched his room, though. He found the ingredients, and Maester Bernard says the ingredients matched those necessary for creating the poison that almost killed you." Hmm, I grunted. Things didn't quite feel right, but that had tied itself up neatly.
"And motivations? Who put him up to it?"
"No one. He did it himself. We found his journal on the boat he'd wanted to escape with. His full name had been Pate Pyke. He was a bastard from the Iron Islands. Maybe a Greyjoy or something, he never says. He just talks about a Lord Father that had scorned him. He'd ended up here as a serving boy to a pirate captain with hopes of becoming a captain of his own one day."
"And then we'd come along," I surmised.
"So why try to kill me then?" I asked.
"His journal said he was going to go back in glory as the slayer of two dragonlords," she said, and it clicked that it hadn't just been me he'd targeted.
"And Daemon? How is he?" I asked.
"He's dead, Laenor."
A/N: Yup, I lied in the beginning. How's it going? Next five chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)(same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.