Scions of the Cruel King

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Shepherd Of Fire



Visenya

Her imprisonment had been a long one, it had been hard on her and her unborn child-children the maester insisted- that traitorous half brother of hers Aegon had taken her hostage upon her return from travelling Westeros. The man had told her that he had had something that he desperately wished to speak with her about, and Visenya being the person that she was thought that anything the man could tell her could only be useful to protecting Vaegyl's throne and used as proof that the Westerlings were a bunch of conniving treasonous liars who were ungrateful for the step up in society that her father had given them.

She had not expected to be set upon by those men bearing the lion of Lannister upon their doublets, nor did she expect the arrows that pierced Vhagar- her namesake's dragon- nor did she truly expect Aegon to have that sadistic smile he always seemed to get when he took perverse pleasure in something. Once the men that her traitor of a brother had set upon her had captured and subdued her and Vhagar, she was dragged down to the place where Aegon's traitor of a grandfather resided, that the man had not been dismissed from King's Landing yet, was more the work of Jaehaerys than Vaegyl. For she knew that her brother would gladly give the man to Balerion, if it would not cause the Faith to rise up in rebellion once more.

"Ah so here she is, the dragon queen in all of her majestic glory." Lord Westerling had said, sarcasm lacing his tone.

"What is the meaning of this Westerling?" Visenya had snarled at the man.

"Why Your Grace, I only wish to speak with you. Surely you can understand the need for conversation in these most turbulent of times." Westerling had replied.

"And was it necessary to send my craven of a brother to bring me here Westerling? Was it necessary to have your lackeys try and harm my dragon? If you truly wished to speak with me, you would have simply asked for me to come and speak with you. What do you want?" Visenya had said.

"Ah, but of course you always were the serious one weren't you Your Grace? Very well then, yes it is true that I did not simply wish to speak with you. By now you must know that the Faith are re-arming, the High Septon of course knows nothing of this, and nor shall he." Westerling had spoken calmly.

"So what is my purpose in all of this Westerling? Why am I here and not with my sister and brother?" Visenya had asked, though she had begun to suspect the answer.

"Because with you missing, your fool of a brother Vaegyl will never put away his sword nor will he stop riding that blasted dragon of his. He will bring more and more chaos to the realm, and make people see that all of you incestuous abominations are no fit rulers. The Lords will know then that my grandson is the only person who is fit enough to rule Westeros, and you and your sister shall be put to the sword, simply for the crime of being born from incest." The man had gotten a sadistic smile on his face then as he had finished speaking. Visenya had felt her blood begin to chill at the man's words, so Vaegyl's paranoia had been correct, had been spot on, the Westerlings were plotting against him.

"Why though? My father gave you a position of power; you served as Vaegyl's hand during the early years of his reign. Why would you want to disturb the power you have been given now? Surely you know, you will never be successful with your usurpation so long as Vaegyl lives." She had said then, trying to keep her voice calm, though she could feel the nerves and anxiety growing inside of her.

"Why? Because your fool of a brother, Vaegyl would never consent to wedding someone not a Targaryen, because your father slighted my daughter with his preferences towards you incestuous abominations, because Aegon as Maegor's first born son not of incest, is the rightful king, in the eyes of the gods and men. Because the Lords of Westeros will never truly feel comfortable with an incest born abomination for a king, because the Faith needs someone who can be their champion against such abominations." Westerling had ranted.

Visenya had lifted her head up then and had simply said "Because you want power, is that why?"

Westerling had laughed out loud then and had come closer toward her and had whispered in her ear, his breath sending cold shivers of dread down her spine. "Yes Visenya, for power, for the Iron Throne, for the Game of Thrones."

With that the man had left, and Visenya had been consigned to the black cells for the next four moons, she had very little to no contact with anyone outside of the jailer, whom she had known as a little girl. The man Rungen- that was his name- had told her that Vaegyl had been travelling around Dorn supposedly looking for her, but he had not brought Fire and Blood to Dorne, he had not ridden out on the Black Dread, no the Dread's roars could be heard from the Dragonpit, and they gave Visenya courage. As the months ticked by and still she was kept in the black cells, she gathered that Vaegyl had spent a fair bit of time in Dorne, doing what no one knew, for according to Rungen the letters that were sent were very, very brief. But Visenya had a rough idea of what her brother was doing, building an alliance trying to finish the work that the Conqueror had started all those years ago. Rhaenys, her beautiful sister was still in King's Landing, unaware that she was being kept in the cells, that the Westerlings would more than likely have her killed the minute something went wrong for Vaegyl, no matter that Rhaenys had given birth to a boy whom she had called Maegon.

Then in the dying stages of her pregnancy, her other brother, the traitor, the would be usurper Aegon had come to see her in the black cells and told her that Vaegyl-her love was coming back home- the boy had been lit with panic and Visenya would have laughed at the boy, if she had not know that he would likely be burnt alive should he still be here when Vaegyl returned.

She had been released from the black cells, two days after her conversation with the usurper, freed by Rungen, dressed and cleaned, still heavily pregnant, a moon away from giving birth, and she had been reunited with her sister.

"VISENYA!" Rhaenys had all but shouted when Visenya had walked into the throne room that long ago day.

Her sister had run then in a most unqueenly manner and had flung herself into Visenya's arms. Both sisters had hugged each other fiercely and had shed many tears. Visenya held her sister tightly as Rhaenys did to her, both not daring to let the other go, for fear of never seeing them ever again.

"We have been so worried Senya'. Where were you, where did that traitor keep you?" Rhaenys had asked then.

"Here Rhae, he kept me here." Visenya had said.

Her sister's face had gotten wide with shock then. "Here? You mean to say Aegon kept you here, in King's Landing, for all this time, and no one else knew where you were?" The disbelief was evident in her voice.

"Yes Rhae," she said. "Lord Westerling has paid off many of the people in the city, the Faith has been re-arming under the man's direction. Vaegyl must know, when will he be back?"

"He'll be back in a day or two, he's been negotiating with the Dornish." Rhaenys had answered.

Visenya had nodded. Two days later her brother and husband had returned. Vaegyl had begun to look more and more like their father with every passing day. He had always been a big lad as a child, but now he was broad shouldered, well muscled and in short built like a bull. He had seen her standing with Rhaenys and her Maegon, and the biggest smile she had ever seen had broken out on his face.

He had walked up to them both and hugged them tightly to him. Whispering into their hair. "I have missed you both my lovely ladies." He had turned to look at little Maegon then a bundle in Rhaenys' arms, all of one years old and smiled even more. Then he had looked at Visenya and the round bump in her stomach, and had placed his hands over it and said "Aegon shall pay for what he did, Senya, know that I won't stop till the man has paid a thousand fold for what he has done to you, to us."

Aegon and the Westerlings had fled back to the Westerlands before Vaegyl had even left Dorne, taking with them the Lannisters and Aegon's Lannister wife Myrielle. Visenya felt sorry for the woman, she clearly did not know what she had gotten herself into by marrying Aegon. Aegon was not as spineless as everyone seemed to think he was, he had proven his skill with a sword and as a jouster during countless tourneys in King's Landing over the years, and he did have a certain low cunning, but he was of course just a pawn in the wider game that Lannister and Westerling were playing, and would more than likely be disposed of once he had gotten a child on Myrielle. Aegon's younger brothers Daemon and Laecareys had left with Aegon and his family, and Visenya knew that Vaegyl had been deeply angered when he had learnt of that, Daemon had always been a sly creature, cleverer than any man should truly be. Laecareys, well Laecareys had grown up in his older brothers shadows but had always had a soft spot in Vaegyl, Visenya and Rhaenys' hearts, and Visenya knew that in the war that was about to come, they would all regret having to kill him.

Visenya tried to bring her thoughts back to something pleasant as she looked at her children. She had given birth to triplets, four moons ago, and the court had been overjoyed, for the triplets had all been boys and that meant more male heirs for the Targaryen dynasty. Her boys, Aegor, Rhaegar and Aelix all had the Targaryen look, the silver hair and the violet eyes, Visenya knew that her boys were meant for great things, she could just feel it.

"What are you thinking my love?" she heard Vaegyl whisper into her hair, as his strong arms wrapped around her waist.

"Of our children and what their future will be like." She replied.

She felt Vaegyl hum behind her. "I have news for you and Rhae both, I have sent Ser Norcross to retrieve her."

Visenya nodded, and then turned round to face her husband. She kissed him on the lips and as he returned her kiss with a passion she had not been expecting, she moaned aloud, and would have done more but at that moment there was a knock on the door. Vaegyl broke the kiss and sighed. "Come in." Visenya heard her brother call.

The door opened and in walked their sister Rhaenys. "You asked for me brother?" Rhaenys asked.

Visenya saw that Maegon was trailing after her, Maegon had just started walking and talking, and he ran to Vaegyl then on unsteady legs. Visenya saw her brother pick up Maegon and felt her heart swell with love for her family.

Vaegyl became serious though and whilst he held Maegon his voice took on the iron tone it often took when he had to discuss something of grave importance. "The small council meeting today was most interesting. It appears that Lord Lannister has called his banners and is mustering a force of men at the Golden Tooth, of course with Urrax and Firefree having left with Aegon and Daemon, I think it is realistic to expect that soon they shall be marching. The High Septon was found dead in his bed this morning, poisoned, the Most Devout are more than likely going to elect some Warrior Son pillock to the post of High Septon now, which means that the Faith Militant won't have to hide anymore. Furthermore, Lord Tyrell has reported that there have been sightings of the Poor Fellows marching along the Mander. In short war will be coming to Westeros much quicker than we had originally thought. And I need you two to stay here in King's Landing, or if not move to Dragonstone should Aegon strike first."

Visenya felt herself tighten at her brother's words and was about to protest when Vaegyl went on. "This is not negotiable, I will not have either of you or the boys put in harm's way. No Alysanne will be staying in King's Landing should war break out. I will be sending Lord Towers to speak with Lord Lannister to get an understanding of what his intentions are."

Visenya nodded she knew that was the smart thing to do, after all Aegon maybe the puppet of the Westerlings, but he was also very impatient if he wanted something he would strive to get it.

Visenya could see that Rhaenys was about to speak when there was a knock on the door, Vaegyl called for whoever it was to come in, and they found themselves face to face with a rather distraught looking Jaehaerys. Their cousin spoke quickly. "Lord Tybolt and the Westerlanders have invaded the Riverlands, Urrax and Firefree have been sighting burning the lands."


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