Frozen Flames: The Saga of the Ice Dragon (Completed)

Jaehaerys had spent the next two days hidden away in his chambers, or so people thought. He spent his days crawling through the passageways, hoping to overhear something important while trying to think things through. He had to understand his situation before he could solve it.

He had to gain power to help people but he had another problem he had to solve before he could even try: Viserys. He couldn't well have people respect him if he didn't dare to walk the halls of his home. He couldn't fight Viserys, so the only other alternative was to get rid of him.

Connington brought Viserys to King's Landing to torment him, Jae decided. He'd overheard enough of the Small Council meetings while crawling through the passageways to know Viserys couldn't be relied on for anything else.

That meant Connington couldn't harm Jae himself. And he couldn't send anyone else to do it, either, because Jaime would kill them.

But Viserys also only harmed him in private, where no one could see. The servants dislike Jae, but he knew they hated Viserys. They thought him a madman. It wasn't hard to imagine that everyone else felt the same way.

So what would happen if Viserys harmed him in public? What would happen if people learned that the Crown Prince of the Seven Kingdoms was being abused?

Ser Jaime said they would be outraged and Jae decided to believe him. He doubted it himself because he'd never met anyone who'd care, but Ser Jaime wouldn't tell him false.

He could force Connington to banish Viserys to Dragonstone. He would be saving Daenerys as well, though his Aunt had never so much as spoken to him. Jae imagined Viserys had tormented her at Dragonstone so she didn't hesitate to use Jae as a shield when the opportunity presented itself. That rankled, but it didn't mean she had to live with a madman.

Connington would protest, but could he really act like he didn't know? Especially now that Lord Stannis had come to the capital? Jaehaerys would have to move fast.

Viserys had a short temper. He could easily be provoked to do something stupid if only Jaehaerys could get him angry. But if Jaehaerys provoked him in front of people, they would claim he'd been asking for it. No, someone else had to do it. But who? Ser Jaime wasn't an option and Jae had no other friends he could rely on.

The answer came to him quite unexpectedly on the second day.

He was in the middle of crawling through the passageways, hoping to get to the Small Council chamber when he overheard a conversation.

"Did you see him run from us, the craven?" A boy laughed. Jae peeped through a hole in the wall to find the squires that followed Viserys everywhere sitting in the Small Hall, eating lunch.

"Aye, the little shit is a coward, no doubt about that," another squire replied. Emmon Birch, if Jae remembered correctly. The third son of a minor Lord.

"What was he supposed to do?" another boy asked. "There were six of us."

That took Jae off guard.

"What? Are you taking his side?" one of the Redwyne twins spoke up. Jae couldn't be sure which one.

"No," the boy said defensively. Jae struggled to see his face, but he caught a glimpse of red crabs on a white shield. A Celtigar then. That was something. They were an important House of the Crownlands. The boy had to be Terrence Celtigar, Lord Adrian's son and Heir. "I'm just wondering if he should be treating his own kin like that."

"That fucker is the reason for the Rebellion," another squire declared, "The Prince is right to teach him his place."

The squires voiced their agreements but Jae kept his eyes on Terrence. The boy nodded half-heartedly. Jae didn't need to listen to anything else. He had gotten his idea. He hurried back to his chambers and called for Ser Jaime. They had a plan to make.

Terrence Celtigar returned to his chambers late in the evening. He seemed most surprised to find Jaehaerys sitting on a chair before his bed, Ser Jaime by his side.

The boy's face paled and his eyes jumped to Ser Jaime's hand, gripping the gilded hilt of his sword.

Jaehaerys' heart pounded but he forced himself to keep calm. He'd never done this but he had to make it work. He had no other option. "Hello, Terrence," he said, not unkindly.

"Ar—Are you here to kill me?" the boy stuttered. Maybe Jae really was a dragon if the boy found him so scary.

"Kill you?" Jaehaerys asked. "No, I just wanted to talk to you." He gestured for the boy to approach. "Will you sit down, please?"

The boy nodded hesitantly and closed the door behind him, his eyes glued to Ser Jaime.

"Don't worry about Ser Jaime, Terrence, he won't do anything." It seemed to help a little bit.

The boy sat down, stiff as a board, and stared at Jaehaerys. He had thin brown hair and a lack of chin that Jae had come to associate with boys who grow up very fast, his face covered in freckles.

"So, tell me, Terrence, do you like Viserys?" Jaehaerys asked.

"Of course, of course I do, he is my Prince."

"He's my Prince too, and my Uncle, and I don't like him." He looked up at Jaime. "And neither does Ser Jaime."

"Hate the little shit, to be accurate," Jaime said with a vicious smile.

"And you know, I've wondered. When I'm not around to torment, and Princess Daenerys is somewhere in public, does Viserys take out his anger on someone else?"

The way the boy looked down at the floor told him Ser Jaime had guessed correctly. Prince Viserys didn't have friends, he merely had people whom he hadn't gotten around to bullying yet.

"There's nothing to feel bad about, Terrence. He takes out on me, too," Jaehaerys said with a kind smile. "So I've wondered if there was a way we could make him stop. Make sure he wouldn't bully us ever again."

Terrence's head snapped up so fast, it was all Jaehaerys could do not to smile in triumph. "H—Hurt him?" he asked.

"No, no, he is my kin, Terrence, don't forget that," Jaehaerys said, pausing for a beat. "But if he were to be forced to leave King's Landing... that would be quite nice, wouldn't it?"

Terrence asked only one thing. "How?"

The next day, Jaehaerys chose to spar in the courtyard in the middle of the day, a break from his usual routine. Ser Jaime moved with a stiffness that showed in his fighting and kept his insult back for a chance. Not that Jaehaerys could land a blow on him anyway. But after about half an hour, a scream of rage came bouncing out of the bowels of the Red Keep.

Jaehaerys, along with most in the courtyard, turned in the direction of the sound with a frown on his face. Then Viserys emerged from Maegor's Holdfast, looking like a wild beast on a rampage.

"You bastard!" he screamed, headed straight for Jaehaerys. "Did you think I wasn't going to find out?"

Jaehaerys backed up, a terrified look on his face. He couldn't get any words out before Viserys' fist connected with his face and sent him sprawling back.

The kicks followed immediately after. Viserys screamed the entire time. "Did you think you could mock me in front of all these fools and I wouldn't find out, you northern dog!" The kicks kept coming.

He could hear Jaime yell, "What are you talking about?" along with many others.

But Viserys kept on kicking him, planting his heel in Jae's face, filling his mouth with blood.

"I'm going to kill you! Kill you!" Viserys screamed, heedless of the cries of outrage, while Jaehaerys did his best not to cry, helped along by a vicious sense of satisfaction building in his chest. He'd never felt like that before, but he thought he could come to enjoy it.

They stood in the Small Council chamber. It had taken five guards to drag Viserys off of Jae, kicking and screaming. He'd been taken to his chambers and had guards posted outside his doors with orders not to let him leave.

Jaime told him Connington ordered it after the commotion drew him to the courtyard. Better yet, he had hesitated to do anything until he saw some of the Baratheon men had drawn their blades, ready to kill Viserys on the spot.

And now Jae stood before the entire Small Council, bloodied and beaten, along with an enraged Stannis Baratheon beside him. The members of the Small Council glared at Stannis, with the exception of Lord Varys who regarded Jae with an amused smirk on his face. That one knew, Jae was sure of it.

"Is this how the Crown Prince of the Seven Kingdoms is treated in his own home!" the Lord of the Stormlands raged. Jaehaerys really was starting to like him more and more.

"I assure you, Lord Stannis, I had no knowledge of this behavior towards Prince Jaehaerys," Lord Connington said with a nasty look.

"Then you are incompetent. If you cannot even keep your household under control, how are you to control the Seven Kingdoms?" Stannis responded.

Jae's esteem of him dropped a little. Was he going to use him to wrestle power from Connington? Is that all he was to people? A piece to be moved around the board?

"I would caution you to watch your tongue, Stag!" Connington spat. "Prince Viserys will regret his actions once he calms down, I am sure of it, and apologize to Prince Jaehaerys and we will all move on from this incident."

"No."

All eyes swiveled in Jaehaerys' direction. It was the first time he'd spoken.

"What did you say?" Connington hissed.

"I said no!" Jaehaerys replied, sounding bolder than he felt. "You know the truth, no matter how much you try to lie to Lord Baratheon, and so do I. And so does Ser Jaime." He took a deep breath to steady himself. "Prince Viserys will be banished to Dragonstone."

"Who are you to order me!" Connington stood from his chair.

Jaehaerys raised his chin, undaunted. This man couldn't harm him, he reminded himself, that's why he brought Prince Viserys to the capital in the first place. "I am the Crown Prince of the Seven Kingdoms. A dragon. You are nothing more than a fool who befriended one," Jaehaerys replied, having prepared that line in advance.

It had the desired effect. The Small Council members turned to look at Connington.

The man trembled with rage, balling his fists. Strangely, he reminded Jae of Viserys. "And if I don't?" he asked.

"If you don't, Lord Baratheon will take this tale back home. Ser Jaime will wonder out loud every chance he gets why our Lord Regent was so unwilling to protect the Crown Prince though he'd been aware of his mistreatment the entire time. Soon enough, the entire realm will know." Jaehaerys tilted his head. "And I wonder how my family in the North will feel about that."

"Not to mention the common people, when they hear an up-jumped minor Lord, my bannerman no less, dared to harm a Prince of the Blood. They remember the only reason you're in power is because you took advantage of the chaos at the end of the Rebellion," Lord Stannis seconded Jaehaerys, the large man and the little boy glaring at the Lord Regent in unison.

His face grew so red, it matched his hair. Jaehaerys feared his head might explode. In the end, Lord vary broke the silence when he said, "Perhaps the Prince's suggestion is sound. Prince Viserys should be sent to Dragonstone. Out of sight and out of mind, as they say."

Finally, Connington gave a nod. So slight, one could doubt he agreed at all.

"But Daenerys stays," Jaehaerys pushed on. "I won't have her at Dragonstone where Viserys can torment her."

"Fine!" Connington said, "Now, begone."

"You don't order the Crown Prince around, fool!" Stannis protested.

"That's quite alright, Lord Baratheon," he said, looking up at him with a small smile. "I was leaving anyway."

He glanced at Ser Jaime and the two of them walked out of the Small Council chamber. Jaehaerys' heart pounded so hard he could feel his pulse on the tips of his fingers. He feared he might throw up, but he also couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. He had done it! Viserys was gone! People could throw him nasty looks all they wanted, but he wouldn't have to fear anyone beating him up anytime soon.

Lord Baratheon caught up to them soon and Jaehaerys schooled his expression into one of superior detachment. He'd modeled it after Ser Jaime.

"Thank you for your assistance, Lord Baratheon," he said.

Lord Stannis nodded and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You engineered all of this, didn't you, my Prince?"

Jaehaerys saw no point in lying. By the looks of it, Stannis hated Connington and Viserys. "Yes, my Lord, I did."

A smile spread across Baratheon's face then, and he nodded in what looked like approval. "Very well done, my Prince, very well done indeed."

Jaehaerys couldn't help but grin at that, his insides warming at the praise from this serious Lord. To hell with Ser Jaime and his indifference.

After he had gotten his wounds cleaned and stitched up by Maester Alwyn, Jaehaerys made his way straight to Terrence's quarters. For the first time in years, he walked through the corridors without looking over his shoulder, and it made him want to skip down the corridors while whistling a tune. Ser Jaime told him Prince Viserys would be put on the first ship for Dragonstone next morning. Jaehaerys grinned, even though his broken lip hurt.

He knocked on the door and heard a weak "Come in," from inside. He opened the door to find Terrence sitting on the edge of his bed. When he saw Jaehaerys standing before his door, he exhaled in relief.

"So, Terrence," Jaehaery said warmly, "Are you ready to become Ser Jaime's squire?"

The boy nodded mutely.

"No," Ser Jaime said with a bloodthirsty grin that terrified the boy all over again, "You're really not."

"It seems the little dragon has woken up at last," Lord Varys murmured, with that tittering laugh of his.

The rest of the Small Councill members either nodded in agreement or glared at him.

"He orchestrated this," Connington said, grabbing the arms of his chairs so tightly his knuckles turned white.

"I told you it was folly to allow Prince Viserys to abuse him," Lord Tarly, the Master of Laws, said in that curt tone of his.

"Admittedly, we all thought problems would arise when the Realm learned of it, not when Prince Jaehaerys decided to get rid of Viserys himself," Lord Varys said.

"You almost sound as though you admire him," Connington accused.

Lord Varys shrugged, unintimidated. "I consider him to be what he is; the product of two of the oldest royal bloodlines in Westeros. Not a meek, witless little boy you clearly took him for, my Lord Regent."

"He will pay for this," Connington said.

"And how will he do that?" Lord Velaryon, the Master of Ships, asked. "He's gotten rid of the only person who could touch him. Ser Jaime will have every right to kill anyone who threatens his charge now."

"And if you haven't understood Lord Velaryon's words, my Lord Regent, you're included in that statement," Lord Varys elaborated unnecessarily. Gods, he was having more fun than in a long time. "My little birds tell me a certain raven took flight towards Casterly Rock earlier today."

Connington's eyes snapped towards Varys. The first sliver of fear could be found in his demeanor. "And what did it say?"

"Oh, I don't know the specifics, but I'm told there are vague instructions to Lord Tywin, promising him the Regency in case you should make, and I quote, "some unfortunate decision"."

Now the fear was visible for all the Small Council members to see.

"I suggest, my Lord Regent," Lord Varys continued, "you treat Prince Jaehaerys very kindly from now on and be sure to grant any request he may have, or you might come to learn dragons don't forget those who tried to put them down."

Varys would cherish the sight of Lord Connington trying to decide whether he should scream in rage or piss his breeches for a long time. He congratulated himself for choosing to abstain from any action when wind of Prince Jaehaerys' scheme first reached him. He had a feeling it was but the beginning of a very interesting story.