"How did you do it?" Alyn asked bitterly, his gaze fixed on the Cannibal, black as a mountain of night.
Alyn had known glory. He had survived the Red Sowing, lucky, proud, and reckless. He was heir to Driftmark, destined for vast wealth and command of a mighty fleet. Yet there was one thing that would almost certainly never be his.
A dragon.
The presence of a dragonrider burned brighter than any banner or title.
"Taming a dragon takes ninety-nine parts effort and one part luck," Aegon said plainly. "But that single part of luck may be the most important of all."
"May I touch it?" Alyn asked.
"You may," Aegon replied.
Their kinship was tangled, yet real enough. The Sea Snake acknowledged Alyn as the bastard son of Laenor Velaryon, Princess Rhaenyra's first husband. Prince Daemon's former wife had been Laena Velaryon. With Aegon betrothed to Rhaena, Alyn was family by both blood and marriage.
"Be careful," Rhaena said softly. "This dragon is proud, and violent."
Alyn stepped closer and reached out, placing his hand upon the Cannibal's brow and one jagged horn. The dragon's eyes snapped open, green fire flaring within them. It snorted in displeasure, a low and dangerous sound, yet Aegon gave no command, and the beast endured the touch.
That was enough.
"People will not call you Unlucky Aegon anymore," Alyn said at last. "They will call you Aegon the Fortunate, or Aegon the Conqueror. An eleven-year-old who tames the king of the wild dragons. There is nothing more impossible than that."
He drew a slow breath, finally letting it go.
Perhaps life was always filled with regrets. Had he succeeded with Sheepstealer, he might now lie buried beside his brother Addam.
Three silver-haired youths stood together in the yard, two boys and a girl. None were truly grown, yet all had been forced into early maturity by war. Alyn had been born in 115 AC, Rhaena in 116, and Aegon on the last day of 120.
Rhaena was tall and graceful, her silver hair falling in waves to her waist, her beauty refined and luminous. Standing beside Aegon, the two looked perfectly matched. Alyn's only flaw was his height, his mother's legacy.
"Forgive my bluntness," Alyn said, "but with Cannibal, this war could end easily. You could fly straight to King's Landing. Fear alone would topple the Greens."
"Victory depends on timing," Aegon replied calmly. "When the Greens are completely abandoned, I will add the final spark."
"Attacking King's Landing is part of the plan," Rhaena said. "Aegon trains every day. Flight, raids, precision strikes."
"Strike when the moment is right," Alyn said, his eyes brightening. Let the Greens lose the people's hearts first, then arrive as saviors. More than anything, a dragon and its rider needed time to temper one another, like steel on a whetstone.
"Three armies advance," Aegon continued. "The Riverlands and the North by land, the Vale by sea. King's Landing already totters. And when the fires burn highest, I will give them a gift."
"Three fronts, plus Dragonstone's dragons and Driftmark's fleet," Rhaena said thoughtfully. "King's Landing is surrounded. With the Cannibal in the sky, its defenses are nothing."
A dragon could strike any city at will. None were ever truly defended.
"So," Alyn asked, ever sharp, "how can I help?"
"Intercept a ship," Aegon said. "Or several."
"Who?"
"Ser Tyland Lannister, or anyone the Greens send across the Narrow Sea to hire sellswords. The Reach and the Westerlands cannot aid them. They still have gold, but not men."
"Done," Alyn said without hesitation. "Stopping a blind, broken, gelded lion at sea will not be difficult. You fear they will return with mercenaries?"
"Not fear," Aegon replied. "They may fail regardless. But once we defeat the Stormlands, we will need order. Loose agents across the Narrow Sea breed only panic."
"And Tyland?" Alyn asked.
"He is not to be harmed," Aegon said firmly. "I need him. The others you may deal with as you see fit."
Tyland Lannister was a master of coin and, at heart, loyal to the realm. Keeping him alive meant reconciliation with the Lannisters and the return of the crown's gold.
"Their first stop will be Pentos," Alyn said with confidence. "They will never reach it."
"Pentos," Rhaena murmured. It was where she had been born, Rhaena of Pentos.
"We will return there one day," Aegon said, taking her hand.
"You will be beside me," Rhaena said with a smile. "We will fly there together."
"And what of the Triarchy and the Stepstones?" Alyn asked. "They trouble me more than King's Landing."
Alyn had little love for the capital's wretched politics. The Triarchy was another matter entirely.
They had burned a third of the Sea Snake's fleet at the Gullet. They had killed two princes, though none knew that Viserys had survived. They had slain dragons. They had ravaged Driftmark.
Such blood could not go unanswered.
"We have a debt of blood," Aegon said coldly. "They killed my first dragon, Stormcloud. They killed my brother. I will never forgive them. The Stepstones will be reclaimed."
"Then I am at ease," Alyn said at last, smiling.
Against the Triarchy, their interests aligned perfectly.
And Alyn Velaryon knew this with absolute certainty.
There was no greater ally than the mightiest dragonrider alive.
-------
A/N:
Read ahead on Patreon, 23 advance chapters available, with the first 2 free.
patreon.com/Captain_Lag