Blood of Dragons

Ser Alyn Velaryon and many of his captains have been returned to their fleet at the command of Prince Marence, discharging his duty to them according to the ancient laws of guest right, though few of his subjects are pleased by this decision. Soon after, it was said that a pair of galleys from the fleet -- having halted its plans to assault Sunspear to free Oakenfist, now that the master of ships was freed -- were seen off the coast near Sunspear, making all sail for the Broken Arm. Doubtless, they carried word to the king of the latest events. This did not alleviate the concern that the…

... are going to war. After three weeks of inexplicable indecision, Prince Marence Nymeros Martell gathered his councillors to reveal to them that he intended to raise his banners against the foreign king, Daeron Targaryen, who had forced Sunspear to submit to him three years before almost to the day. There had been great unrest in the shadow city in those tense weeks, as the rest of Dorne rose up in arms against its oppressors, with a number of lords now gathering forces to assist in removing the last of the king's garrisons still holding out in the Dornish strongholds they have taken. From…

The king had gathered the court to celebrate the end of the 160th year since Aegon's Landing, and the opening othe 161st. It was to be a festive occasion, despite the dire news from Dorne, because the king was confident that his cousin Lord Oakenfist would settle matters despite Lord Tyrell's death, the loss of his men, and the firestorm of rebellion that set that hot, miserable land. In the course of the feast, the king was able to convince most of those present that it was a matter of time before Velaryon, his fleet, and his forces would bring Sunspear into line, and the rest of Dorne must…

A fortnight has passed since the assassination of Lord Lyonel Tyrell and the destruction of his force of some three thousand knights and men-at-arms at Sandstone. Lured there to see the tar-covered, desicated head of Andrey Blackmont, he found the old blind lord of the castle solicitous, though his castellan Ser Mavros was away. As was his custom, Lord Tyrell took the lord's bed chamber for his own, and having developed a fondness for Dornish women, he pulled a bell-rope to summon some slut to warm his bed. Unfortunately for him, at the pull of the rope, the bed's canopy fell open and hundreds…

The feasting hall of the Sandship witnessed Prince Marence hosting Ser Alyn Velaryon, the king's master of ships and commander of two of the chief forces in Dorne, and a number of other knights and lords in the king's service. It was a relatively somber affair, the Dornish men and women present less enthused than even the knights from beyond the red mountains for the most part, and some of the guests at the high table were less than pleasing conversation. Ser Alyn, the famous Oakenfist who seized the Planky Town and smashed a Dornish fleet off the Broken Arm, was a genial man, it's true, but…

The wedding of Ser Sarmion Baratheon, known as the Stormbreaker, to a daughter of Lord Hightower was a grand event that drew most of the lords of the stormlands to Storm's End. So, too, did it bring a number of the great magnates of the realm, Prince Viserys and the king's siblings chief among them. Flocking to Storm's End where Lord Corwen hosted a great wedding and ensuing festivities, the bride was lovely to behold and the giant Baratheon knight was as imposing as ever as the vows were exchanged before a thronged crowd. Many gifts were given, including a small galleas from the king. The…

Not all has been happy news, since the death of the outlaw Lord Andrey Blackmont. It transpires that the king had sought to force Blackmont to a parley by making use of his children, hostages in the Red Keep. Among them was his daughter Valeria, whom had been betrothed to the heir of Storm's End, Ser Tancred Baratheon. Some at court thought that this was merely a ploy, others that it showed the subtle intrigues of Corwen Baratheon. Regardless, with Andrey Blackmont's death, the king saw fit to dispossess Valeria's elder brother of his inheritance, instead accepting her fealty as the Lady of…

In the Prince's Pass, the outlaw lord Andrey Blackmont and a handful of his men crept from their hiding places in the fastnesses and tracks of the red mountains of Dorne. Their purpose? A parley with Lord Qorgyle's castellan, Ser Mavros Uller, a man once exiled from Dorne and now rising high thanks to an old, blind lord's trust and the esteem of the Young Dragon. For weeks now, Ser Mavros at the head of a troop of Qorgyle spears played a cat-and-mouse game with the rebel who had done so much to choke traffic across the Prince's Pass and who bedeviled Ser Wallace Chester in Starfall. A number…

Lord Stark has returned now to his seat in the North, after his visit with the king. In Braavos, the Sealord deals with the preparations for his wedding in the coming year to Princess Rhaena, while the Archon of Tyrosh and the Prince of Pentos threaten war against him. It's said that reavers from the Iron Isles have skirted Fair Isle and the shore of the westerlands, to the concern of Lord Loren. And in King's Landing, matters great and small are carried out. Black-winged ravens carried missives to Dorne, orders and commands, while a Dornish hostage -- soon to be an heiress, if the Dornish do…

The announcement that Lord Whalon of Rosby, the far-famed Jousting Lord, was to host a tourney was met with great pleasure among the chivalry of King's Landing and its surrounding lands. Many young knights, as yet unheralded, saw in it an opportunity to start carving out a name for themselves in the tournament circuit. Moreover, they proved quite right. More than three dozen knights and squires entered the contest, among them past champions and various notables at the court. Those causing the greatest stir were the recently-arrived knights and lances of the Brothers of the Battle, the warriors…

The Sealord of Braavos departs at last from King's Landing, on his great galley. Trailing him shall be his escort, some of the finest ships of the royal fleet following him as far as Crabclaw Point to see him and the half dozen other ships of the Braavosi embassy off on their journey across the narrow sea to the Secret City. The Sealord Ferro has sworn to send a ship in a year to fetch his betrothed, the young Princess Rhaena, to be wed in the mightiest of the Free Cities. With all due pomp and circumstance, the royal court will turn out to see the Sealord depart, with King Daeron himself…

Carried on black wings, word has reached King's Landing of Lord Chester's assassination in the midst of the shadow city. King Daeron, the Young Dragon, had planned to go to a last hunt with the Sealord of Braavos before his departure back to his city; with the news, he gave up the notion, instead closeting himself with his councillors for a time. Birds could be seen winging their way from the Grand Maester's tower, flying south, some hours later. More, rumors ran that half a score of royal galleys were to be prepared to journey to Sunspear as swift as may be with fresh levies and knights to…

In far away Dorne, in the Sunspear of the Martells, there was a feast of farewell of an evening for Lord Belion Chester, known as Reaversbane. Having been in Starfall after taking part in the hunt for Andrey Blackmont and other rebels in the western end of the red mountains of Dorne, the lord had developed a reputation as a man who was not afraid to spill blood to pacify the countryside for his king. So he was called upon by Lord Tyrell to aid him in doing the same to the region about the Greenblood, and he stayed at Sunspear awhile to consult with Ser Alyn Velaryon. It was at Oakenfist's…

Slowly, rumors and gossip have begun to illuminate something of the unusually secretive negotiations between King Daeron the First and the Sealord of Braavos, Ferro Antaryon. Speculation was rife in the time since the Sealord's arrival, but asking members of his embassy -- even the loqacious Donalo Prestayn, reprsentative of the Iron Bank -- was fruitless, and not one of the small councillors offered so much as a whisper. If there were any inclined to speak loosely, it seems Preston Wayn, the king's master of whisperers, had put the fear of punishment on them. And so the slightest of trickles…

A fortnight after the royal wedding of Prince Baelor to his sister Princess Daena, the long-awaited tourney took place to honor the occasion. Declared as a joust for love, in which knights must bear a lady's favor and swear to perform feats of arms to please them, more than two dozen knights entered the lists for love of their ladies. Among the great names were Lord Tyrell's brother, Ser Ardon, and Lord Baratheon's heir and brother, Ser Tancred and Ser Sarmion, and even the Dragonknight, Prince Aemon, who carried Daena's favor on behalf of his cousin. More notably still, Ferro Antaryon,…