Pre-Chapter A/N: Here we go with another chapter, coming in right on time. Next four chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
XXXX- AEGON TARGARYEN
The aftermath of the tourney had seen Aegon's knight approached by all sorts of Knights who wished to ransom back their armour and horses. Of course, Aegon was not surprised when Lord Velaryon set the price to a single gold dragon. A price that reduced to a stag or even a copper star depending on who the Knight was. Lord Velaryon did not make a big deal about it but Aegon had seen him press a purse to a hedge knight's hand after accepting his Star.
The jingles it made when he placed it on his belt left no doubt as to what it was. Aegon would ask the Lady Sentara about it when he returned to Bloodstone. She'd said the reason Lord Velaryon gave so much to the smallfolk of Bloodstone was so they could love his family even more, work all the harder, and be even more loyal to him and his family. But why the generosity to some hedge knight of no note from the Riverlands? It made no sense.
The last visitor was Ser Tyland who came in with a purse of gold and would not accept parting with anything less than its whole content. Aegon had never heard the saying 'a Lannister always pays his debts' more times than in that one conversation. In the end, even his Lord's stubbornness was worn down by the Lannister pride. He took the gold in the end.
One man did not approach to ransom his armour though. Ser Fell never came. Instead, a steward from the castle had come to handle the exchange but Lord Velaryon was not one to be so insulted. He discharged the steward with a gold dragon for his troubles and sent a message back to Ser Fell. A debt was owed, and House Velaryon did not consider it paid.
Aegon waited for the steward to leave before he asked Lord Velaryon why.
"Ser Fell is an ill-tempered man. He is doing this as a slight towards me. Remember Aegon, generosity is good, but one must never fail to answer an insult. Of course, there are some insults that are better answered with silence. Some people are hurt more by the lack of the reply than anything you could have said or done to them. Ser Fell will only interpret silence as victory in this case, so I have to make sure that his defeat is spelled out to him as clearly as it was on the field earlier today. Now, Aegon. Let us move on to something else. How much did you make?" he asked, giving Aegon a look that had Aegon barely burying the urge to kick at the ground beneath his feet and shuffle. Those would be dead giveaways that he was about to lie so he kept a lid on all such urges.
"Lord Velaryon?" he asked, trying to sell his ignorance.
"Oh don't play stupid with me. I've had people spot your brother heading to the Bookkeepers since the day they opened. Someone spotted you today as well," his Knight said. Aegon accepted his defeat. At least, Lord Velaryon did not sound all too angry. Aegon just had to play things well to keep him from growing into any anger. And thankfully, the truth was something that put the blame on another's shoulders.
"I wouldn't know, my Lord. I was just helping Helaena, the bets were all hers," he said.
"Helaena? Your quiet sister is the one that almost drove King's Landing's largest bookkeeper to bankruptcy?" Lord Velaryon asked, shocked.
"Yes, my lord. I don't know how she knows but she's almost always right," he said.
"I assume the reason you asked about my opinion on the tilt between Ser Tyland and Ser Lorent was to support her betting?" he asked.
"Yes, my lord."
"Hmmm. That does make some more sense. It is a shame that you were not the one coming up with the bets then. I would have asked how you felt comfortable yielding to Ser Jak when you'd placed so much gold on yourself winning," he said.
"On myself?" Aegon asked.
"Yes. You didn't know what your siblings were up to? They placed a substantial amount on you winning. Of course, they made it all back with a lot to spare from the jousts but it was quite a loss," he said. Aegon felt his stomach sink at that. Why hadn't they told him anything? He would have to ask Hel what she was thinking betting so much on him, but that brought another question to Aegon's mind.
"How do you know so much about the bets placed, my Lord?" he asked.
"Is it not obvious?" was the response he received with a raised eyebrow coming along with it. Aegon realised then that it probably was indeed quite obvious to anyone who knew him well.
"You own the bookkeepers," he realised. Lord Velaryon just smirked in response.
"Now that is enough talking. Are you ready?" Lord Velaryon asked. Aegon nodded. Now it had begun something of a tradition for the two of them to go flying on their dragons at the end of the day. Of course, since they would be leaving the Keep now, Aegon had to wait for Ser Erryk to arrive so he could join their group. There was no need for a mere Prince like Aegon who was not even the heir to walk around with a member of the Kingsguard as his shadow while within the Red Keep, but in the city proper, the dangers were numerous in number and varied in nature.
He'd already asked a runner to go get the Knight around when they retreated to the tent after the match so it made sense that he was poking his head into the tent a few minutes later. The Velaryon men at arms had already brought their horses, and so it was time for them to go in.
Lord Velaryon would have preferred to ride without guards at all, but Ser Erryk was non-negotiable so the three of them rode into the city through the gates on their lonesome most of the time. But at this hour, there was no way they would make it through the crowds without a small entourage of guards. So six men in Velaryon livery made up their escort. The sun would set soon. It had been about an hour since the match, and now the sun cast an orange glow on the world as it came to the end of its journey.
They took the same route to the dragonpit every day. Through the Street of Silk, and then the Street of Steel. It was the most direct route from the Red Keep to the home of the roosting dragons so it made sense that it was Lord Velaryon's preference. Their horses were forced to slow considerably as the slow movement of the packed streets caught up with them.
The guards did their jobs though, parting the crowds with small shoves here and there, but mostly just with their voices calling out who they served and that they wanted to be let through. Most smallfolk had the good sense to let them through.
It was when they were in the middle of the street that it happened. Aegon did not hear the whistling of the crossbow bolt as it flew through the air. He only saw the man at the front of their group slump against the horse with something buried in his neck.
Lord Velaryon was the first to act, with Ser Erryk the second. Lord Velaryon somehow managed to reach out and drag Aegon's head down just in time for a whistling sound to pass by said head. And then there was the neighing of one of the horses behind them as it was struck.
"Ambush," Ser Erryk yelled out, spurring his horse. Aegon felt like the child he was as he was picked up by Lord Velaryon with barely any effort and then dragged off his horse. They were no longer on their horses—he and Lord Velaryon.
Aegon had never been so afraid in his life. Not even when he had been faced with dragons in the dragonpit. Not even when he had thought that his brother had been killed by the Bloodwyrm. He was in Lord Velaryon's arms and the man was running. Aegon's head was pressed against his chest, so he could not tell what was happening around them. He could only hear the screaming of people, the dying of horses, and frenzied shouts from the guards at each other to do one thing or the other.
Lord Velaryon who Aegon was pressed against was silent. The only sounds that escaped him being his calm breathing. Calm breathing like he was out on a simple stroll, and not being attacked. Aegon heard a crashing sound in front of him, and suddenly, the air that was hitting him changed. They were indoors now. Shouts came from some people. Mostly women.
Just screams with no structure to them. Lord Velaryon dropped Aegon to the ground, and when he could look around, he could see that they had to be in a brothel. The state of the men and women left no other option open.
"What happened?" he asked, even as Lord Velaryon seemed to ignore those in the room and move towards the door. He poked his head outside and looked in either direction before he then suddenly snapped the door closed again. He bent, and where his head had just been stuck out an arrow. It had been fired straight through the door. He moved away from the door as multiple arrows slammed into it.
"We're being ambushed," he said, turning to Aegon. There were only the two of them here. The guards were gone. Possibly dead. Ser Erryk as well. No. Not him. He was a Knight of the Kingsguard. He was probably just holding off their attackers.
"Why?"
"I can't exactly go around asking them, can I?" Lord Velaryon asked, turning to him. Aegon felt a flash of rage at that smile on his face. Normally that lack of fear would have calmed him down, but here it was doing the opposite. The sun was setting and in less than an hour, they could find themselves on the Streets of King's Landing fighting through assassins armed with powerful crossbows.
The door opened up and Lord Velaryon turned towards it with his blade drawn, only to put it down as it was Ser Erryk that came in. As he closed the door behind him, whatever relief Aegon felt was dashed with the realisation that the man had an arrow sticking out of his groin and another from his armpit. He was limping and every movement was a struggle.
Aegon rushed over and helped him towards one of the chairs that the previous occupants had abandoned.
"Okay, out now. All of you," Lord Velaryon said, gesturing to the whores and their customers.
There was silence from them. No one moved towards the door. He sighed, went over and opened it. An arrow hit the ground just in front of it. He closed the door again and sighed once more.
"Well, they're smart. How fun," he said, walking over to one of the tables and picking a jug of wine and then a basin that had some fruit in it.
He tossed the fruit onto the ground, poured the wine into the basin and then tore out a strip of cloth from the table covering.
"What did you mean about them being smart?" Aegon asked as his knight knelt in front of Ser Erryk before dipping the table cloth in the wine and then beginning to examine the wounds.
"They let Cargyll in. They could have probably killed him with a well aimed arrow but they instead did just enough to hurt him badly enough that we'd have no other option but to seek proper medical care. Well, either that or let him die," he said.
"We aren't letting him die," Aegon said, resolute. He knew what all his tutors would insist was the right thing to do here, but he could not even bring himself to consider it. Ser Erryk was more than a sworn shield to him. He was his friend. Perhaps his only friend even.
"I know. I had no plans to. But the fact of the matter is that our enemies are banking on that. We could have stayed in here and dared them to come break in and get us. It would have turned this into a standoff and we would probably have won. Sundown would not be any more friendly to them than it is to us, and all we have to do is last long enough for hundreds of Knights to come pouring in from the Red Keep or even for the goldcloaks to come take a look and put an end to this. But now they have given us a man who will die if he does not see a Maester within the hour, and so they have manufactured a deadline for us to match their own. We need to leave here, and once we do, we will most likely be attacked by those outside," he said.
"So what do we do?"
"Let... me die," Ser Erryk managed to get out, eyes snapping to them.
"Unfortunately not, my good Ser. I don't like to lose, and being forced to sacrifice your life to secure our escape tastes too much like losing for my preferences," he said.
"Aegon, I want you to apply pressure to the wounds. Don't remove the arrows. Just keep wiping the area around the ingress points with this bit of cloth. I will handle this," he said next.
"Handle it? How?"
"They wanted to hunt me in this city. I think it's time for me to do some hunting of my own," he said, and then he was gone, walking up the stairs to the upper floor of the building.
He turned around before he could fully leave though and addressed the patrons.
"If both of these men, well, one man and a boy, survive until my return, then everyone gets two rounds on me," he said down to the waiting crowd of whores and their would-be patrons. Surprisingly enough, they met his declaration with a round of rapturous applause.
Aegon did not understand how people whose lives were in danger could go from cringing in fright to celebrating a reward in a matter of seconds.
"I can help, Your Grace," a voice said to his side, and he turned only to be met with a girl. She was around his age so part of him wondered what she was doing in a place like this, but she had a look to her that made him feel like he could trust her. He could not put it into words, but he felt like Ser Erryk would be safe in her hands. Perhaps it was the look of Old Valyria that she sported that made that the case. Perhaps it was the way she took the basin from his hands, squeezed the cloth and then got to work wiping the edge of the wound before pressing down on the skin around where the arrow was as if she had done it a thousand times before.
Whatever it was, he was thankful for it. Because at least now the life of this Knight was no longer in his hands. Theirs were in Lord Velaryon's, but Aegon had no doubts about how that would go.
XXXX- LAENOR VELARYON
The buildings in the Street of Silk had better quality than what could be found in virtually any other part of this city. But they were still far from good. Not to the standard of Bloodstone city for sure. In more ways than I could count, these buildings were lesser. One of them being how close together they were. The trajectory of the crossbow bolt told me whoever was firing was most likely doing so from a building opposite this one and slightly to the left. So I jumped out the window of this one and into the next one, crashing through wood shutters with crossed arms. The room was thankfully empty.
I walked to the side, and pushed one of the shutters to the side, opening it. The man with the crossbow was sitting crouched in the window of the building directly opposite. His gaze was fixed on the door, and the crossbow trained on it. There was another man by his side whispering something to him. There had to be more attackers, but these were the only ones I could see so far. And so they would be my first victims.
I opened the windows on the other side, having to go into another room to do so. I was directly opposite the window next to the one the assassin and his accomplice occupied. That one was shuttered as well. There was also a whole street I would have to jump over. Footsteps drew my attention, and I turned only to be met with harsh looking men wielding swords. One of them carried a crossbow on his back. Oh, they'd had the same idea I had then. What a shame.
I struck first. I Spartan kicked the man in the lead so hard that he flew into the man behind him. They hit the ground in a heap and I felt a smile build on my face.
I pulled on Igneel for even more power. For the first time in a long time, I would get to fight other people without having to hold back.
"Do me a favour. Don't die too quickly," I whispered, and then I was on them.
A/N: The assassination attempt doesn't come from the person you're guessing, I promise (at least not from who I think you're guessing). King's Landing stretches on for one more chappy, I guess. Next chapter comes on here by Sunday night (Two chapters this week as promised). Next four chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.