Blood of Dragons

They say that dark wings bring dark words. Now it seems that even white wings may herald black wings to come. The realm has scarcely had time to mourn one tragedy before another has followed, even as autumn has given way to winter. The first befell at Crackclaw Point, an unexpected, unlooked-for tragedy. Forces gathered by Ser Dermett Corbray, the Warden of Crackclaw Point, had moved to restore the king's peace following the feud between the two branches of House Brune and their allies. Matters had come to a head with the death of Ser Lothar Brune, disputes over the succession at Brownhollow,…

King Aegon's last toast to Oldtown and Riverrun did not remain in King's Landing for long. A moon ago, word winged its way south that His Grace had proclaimed Lyonel Dayne the rightful heir to Starfall and Lady Aelinor Hightower his intended bride, rumor outran whatever careful messages followed it. Sunspear's yards and galleries filled with arguments. Some called the king's words another northern insult that demanded an answer, and Prince Rhodry Martell darkly promised that his nephew would make one. Some urged readying the mountain houses and watching Reachmen in Dorne; Ser Arrant Blackmont…

King Aegon gave a farewell feast in the throne room for the Hightower and Tully parties before their departure from King's Landing, with Lord Kennoth Bracken beside the Iron Throne and the great lords of Oldtown and Riverrun at the places of honor. The wine passed freely, as did river fish, roast meats, bread, and pastries, while the first toasts concerned safe roads and the recent marriage of Ser Jon Hightower and Lady Lysa Tully. Ser Garmund Hightower let it be known that the newlyweds would travel first to Riverrun with Lord Kermit Tully, before making their way to Oldtown. The cups also…

The evening before the wedding tourney, the Maidenvault, once a place of tears, indignities, and princely ire, welcomed the royal House and the scions of Oldtown and Riverrun for a feast celebrating Ser Jon Hightower and Lady Lysa Tully. The high table outdid all prior festivities. King Aegon, Queen Naerys, Prince Daeron, Princesses Mariah and Elaena, Prince Aemon and two of his sworn brothers, the Hand Lord Bracken, and Lady Bethany all graced it. Any murmurs prompted by the seating were soon drowned beneath delicacies, wine, and minstrels' tunes. The evening's unusual diversion was a contest…

Day 19 of Month 1, 178 AC The day before the beginning of the tourney and other contests, Houses Hightower and Tully set aside marriage business for spectacle. The gates of the Red Keep flung open for a lavish parade befitting the king's city. Rulers and legends of Riverlands and Reach marched amid velvet-draped carts: Ser Jon Hightower and Lady Lysa Tully rode as the Green King of the God's Eye and Maris the Maid, while King Aegon himself appeared as Garth Greenhand, with Lady Bethany beside him as a River Maid. The Four Seasons stood in the procession's way. Jyana Lannister, future Lady of…

By dusk, the winds saw two galleys bring Lord Lyonel Hightower, Lady Sam Hightower, their grandson Ser Jon, and a great company of kin, friends, retainers, and peers to the capital. The day had already made plain the scale of the coming celebration: the Riverlords had arrived in force, the court had assembled at the Red Keep, and now Oldtown's great House came by sea to complete the gathering. The Hightowers were received with all the ceremony due to a family whose name has long carried weight from the Honeywine to the Blackwater. Lord Lyonel and Lady Sam came at the head of their household,…

Forty years ago, he had come heading armies, to find a desolate Red Keep, the banners of the golden dragon torn and furled, the Sea Snake and the Clubfoot waiting with a forlorn, orphaned prince whom he hailed as Aegon, Third of His Name. In the one hundred and seventy-eighth year after the Conquest, however, Kermit Tully, Lord of Riverrun, and his kith and kin arrived in King's Landing in amity and celebration, with an impressive retinue of riverlords, to prepare for the wedding of Lady Lysa Tully to Ser Jon Hightower. They received a welcome as splendid as the skies above were dour and…

A moon has passed since the honor of Queen Naerys was upheld, and the life of Daena Targaryen ended in the bloody bed. Much was made, in the days that followed these events, of the court's attempts at piety and charity in honor of queen and princess alike Wagons were seen leaving the Red Keep for a motherhouse on the Street of Sisters, heavy with garments to be given out among the poor, and later Princess Rhaena herself encouraged almsgiving at the docks, where ladies of the court gave loaves and coppers while knights and officers helped load provisions bound for the Kingswood. It was there…

On the fifth day of the twelfth month of 177 AC, beneath a pale autumn sky and before the unfinished marble vastness of Baelor's rising sept, Princess Daena Targaryen and the stillborn daughter who perished with her were given over to the flames in the fashion of old Valyria. By the king's command (at the suggestion, it was rumored, of the Hand), the city was permitted to witness the rite, and thus thousands lined the broad ways from the Red Keep to Visenya's Hill, while thousands more crowded the plaza itself, held back by ranks of gold cloaks. Bells tolled across King's Landing as the…

Under cold rain and dark skies over the Red Keep, Princess Daena Targaryen lay in state within the royal sept, together with the stillborn daughter who perished with her. Upon an ebony bier draped in black velvet, the late princess was dressed in the black she so favored. At her side, half-hidden in her arm, lay the stillborn daughter that died with her, with fine brown hair and (it was reported) grey eyes, leading some to whisper that the rumors were true about Princess Daena's time in White Harbor, and the bold sons of the Old Man of the North. But now they were dead, and Daena never named…

The uproar that followed Queen Naerys's vindication when Ser Morgil Hastwyck -- captain of the Band of the Dragon, Master of Horse, companion to the king -- was slain by her brother Prince Aemon before the eyes of gods and men had scarcely settled over the court and the city of King's Landing. Then word spread of a new battle taking place, not one the city was privy to, not out in the open before a sept. Instead, it was the battle of the bloody bed, of childbirth. Princess Daena's labors began as the trial ended, in the relief and hilarity of victory for her kinsman and some jest from her…

Seven days after Queen Naerys asked judgment of gods and men against the slanders spoken by Ser Morgil Hastwyck, the matter came to its answer before Baelor's half-built sept. The morning began within that unfinished place, where Ser Morgil was seen at prayer beneath scaffolds, patched awnings, and damp stone, attended by brothers of the Band of the Dragon and watched by no small number of lords, ladies, and courtiers. Septon Elwood, who had kept vigil there through the night, called those gathered to prayer with a stern rebuke against idle curiosity, and there were enough candles lit before…

King Aegon held open court in the throne room on a misty autumn afternoon, the hall well filled with petitioners, courtiers, officers, and the curious. His Grace sat upon the Iron Throne in black and red finery, while Lord Kennoth Bracken stood below him as Hand of the King, with Lord Butterwell and a number of clerks close at hand. It began, as such courts often do, with the less glorious work of rule: confirmations of minor household service, notices to officers who had served by custom rather than warrant, instructions that rolls be brought current, and word that the royal fleet, the Sea…

The final day of Lady Bethany Bracken's nameday celebration began with the bow. Seven archers came to the line, fittingly enough: Ser Orson Baratheon, Ser Omrys Baratheon, Ser Roland Hunter, Ser Wyllis Reyne, Ser Jon Roxton, Ser Brus Bracken, and Ser Othan Bracken. The field still bore the marks of the previous day's jousting, though the targets stood far enough from the worst of the churned earth that the archers had less cause to curse the ground than the riders would later. Ser Orson Baratheon soon proved the man to beat. Ser Roland Hunter and Ser Wyllis Reyne both made fine early showings,…

On a grey autumn day, with the lists damp underfoot and sawdust laid down against the mud, Lord Kennoth Bracken's tourney in honor of Lady Bethany's seventeenth nameday began with spectacle before sport. The morning had already seen the squires ride at rings, where young Raylan Bracken, squire to Ser Otho Royce, won the chief prize. But the greater crowd gathered for the pageantry of the knights, each called to present armor, helm, and verse before Lady Bethany and the royal box. Lady Bethany herself was dressed for fortune, in white with flames at the hem rising into silver and crystal, the…