Pre-Chapter A/N:Another chapter on time? Guess my lock-in is going pretty well. If you haven't already, I recommend turning on notifications for my stuff so you can see when new stuff drops right as it drops. Next five chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
A volcano. I could feel the heat even from here at the bottom of the mountain. At the top there was an opening that steamed. I silently wondered what I was doing here, but I had no answers. Just a feeling that I ought to make it to the top of the mountain. I needed to be inside that volcano, the feeling said. So, I listened. I began to climb.
It was only halfway to the top that I noticed that I was naked. My bare feet did not hurt as they tread upon the hard stone that made up the volcano's exterior. So I kept going— onwards and upwards. I did not have any sensation of time in truth as I made the journey. All I knew was that the journey passed with little of note happening. And then I was at the top of the volcano. From within came a bright orange glow and even more intense heat.
The same feeling that had made me climb told me to go inside, and against all better sense, I listened. I lowered myself within it and began to climb downwards. The inner wall of the volcano had convenient hand and footholds that made the journey a breeze. Just like the one up, it passed with little of note until I reached the ground. The shockingly solid ground. Then I realised that the orange glow that bathed the place as well as the heat came from a single thing. An egg.
I walked towards it until I heard a sound. It was another man. He was lowering himself into the volcano as well. He looked familiar, but I could not quite place it. His hair was silver and his body lithe and tall.
"Stop right there," he yelled, but the feeling within told me to make for the egg and so I did.
"Stop it," he screamed, jumping the last of the distance between him and the ground. The fall must have hit a fair deal but he rolled with it and began to run at the egg. And so I began to run as well. His legs were longer, but I was faster still. Every step for him was two for me and when I reached the egg, I touched it. It began to crack and open to reveal….Igneel.
Laenor Velaryon, that was my name. And I was here because some bastard from Valyria was trying to take my body. Igneel wrapped himself around my body and loomed over the man who had now stopped his run and seemed frozen in fear.
"So how do you feel being the one at my mercy now?" I asked, stroking Igneel's scales.
"Don't do this. I know what you want. You want to learn magic. Let us make a deal. Let me remain here and I will teach you all that I know about magic," he said, his words reeking with desperation.
"A good offer. But I have a better one," I said, relishing in the confusion on his face.
"Dracarys." And then the world was fire.
— —
I felt the gentle rocking of the boat beneath me before I fully returned to consciousness. It was a soothing feeling, I realised. Being rocked like this— left to right and then back again over and over. It was what had made Rhaelor Velaryon write that the sea is the most peaceful place in all the world for a Velaryon. I couldn't remain lulled forever though. The fact that I was on a boat meant that Vaemond had gotten me out of Tyria and the mess that it was. But I needed more information. What had we been able to get?
I opened my eyes to find him slumped against the chair next to the bed. People usually looked at peace when they slept. Uncle Vaemond looked like he was fighting another war in his dreams— across his face was an ugly scar that moved with his eyes as they raced beneath his eyelids. Where had he gotten that scar? His whole body jolted from the nightmare he was having and I decided waking him up would be worth it now. It was probably what he wanted me to do in truth.
"Uncle, Uncle," I called, and the second proved unnecessary as the second my voice rang out, he snapped to alert.
"Laenor," he called, looking relieved to see me awake. That was the sign that things had definitely gotten out of hand. When was the last time someone had looked relieved to see me?
"What happened, Uncle?" I asked.
The question dampened his enthusiasm by a fair bit.
"Valyria was a curse. We never should have gone," he said.
"What happened, Uncle?" I pressed. He turned away from me before he began speaking.
"Whatever Celtigar had been doing had been tied to the protections around the fortress. When we killed him, they went off. We never even knew until the first of those creatures had killed two of our number. The sun was down and we were stuck within the fortress. There were two choices. Try to bolt ourselves within and hope they did not manage to break through or make a run for it. We voted for the latter. I carried you on my shoulders and we ran all the way to the boats. We did our best, but those creatures become something completely different in the night time. They become even more dangerous.
They killed us. So many of us. We made it to the ships in the end, but even there they did not stop harassing us. We managed to push this one out to sea but the other ship? They made it aboard and they slaughtered all of them to the man. We went there with twenty-seven souls. Seven men not including me crew this ship now," he said, his voice breaking at the last bit.
I closed my eyes as his words washed over me. Ben was gone. Over a dozen men— my people— were gone. Vaemond was right. We never should have gone.
There was a knock at the door. "Captain," the voice called out.
"Yes?" both Vaemond and I responded at the same time before I tilted my head to him, offering him the lead in this situation. I couldn't quite tell for certain in the poorly lit room which of our ships had survived, but I wasn't in any state for leadership now.
I wasn't even certain I could face the seven men that still lived now. Vaemond's face told the story. Those had been his friends, and that feeling was likely to be all the stronger among the sailors themselves. Would they blame me for it? I couldn't see why not.
"Black sails, my Lord. Black sails chase us," the man said on swinging the door open. I froze. Vaemond did much the same for a second before his words returned to him.
"How many?"
"Twelve ships," the man replied.
Twelve ships was a small fleet. It was a significant amount of force to be concentrated in any one place. And the best I knew, there weren't any pirates or sellsails with fleets that large in this part of the world. Not anymore at least. The Velaryon fleet had hunted down and killed the greatest of the pirate Lords after the war with the Triarchy had come to an end. The ones with sense had left the Narrow Sea, never to return, and the ones without had been sunk by our patrols.
"Will they catch us?" he asked next.
"With the cargo, it is only a matter of time," he said.
"Laenor, remain here. I will handle this," Vaemond said, turning to me with false confidence.
"Keep running. Make our ship take the most direct path to Bloodstone and keep running. Have some men man the oars if necessary," I said.
Vaemond gave me a look. My orders had gotten us into this mess in the first place. I wouldn't blame him if he decided to belay them and go with whatever plan was in his mind to carry out instead. But instead of doing that, he nodded.
"You heard your Lord. Get to work now. Double time," he said to the man, marching out after him. Was there any doubt that he would obey though? Vaemond had been a follower all his life and he would always be a follower. Was I any better though? I was a leader but one who had led his people to painful deaths in a foreign land seeking something as fleeting as his own entertainment.
I didn't have the time to dwell on that though. Because I had work to do. I reached for the bond I shared with Igneel, finding it easier and wider than ever. He was roosting on Bloodstone's roof, next to Meleys. Vhagar was on the other side of the island.
Igneel shot from the roof of Bloodstone like a bullet, accelerating until he reached his top speed and began to head in our direction. I closed my eyes and let out a breath. We just had to survive for long enough. I rose to a seating position before turning and releasing my legs from the bed. I was barely clothed. I looked around the room, finally able to tell that this room was mine. I walked up to the chest I had packed my clothes in and changed to something more suitable.
The books, I thought with a growl of irritation. I'd gone to Valyria for magic and come back with none of it. The Valyrian steel and gold were secondary objects and hollow consolations considering I had tomes with actual magic in them in my grasp. The thought of returning for them only briefly flashed in my mind before I banished it to the dark recesses. It wasn't worth it. I'd almost died trying to get them.
Something told me it would be even harder the second time around. I'd given Valyria my best shot and I failed. I would have to live with that. That was the nature of things. Reality was rarely kind.
I rose, fully dressed, and opened the door to step out. This was where Ben would normally have made a quip or something as he took his position to my back, guarding me from all threats. This time, there was naught but silence. No one was there waiting for me. I had gotten Ben killed. I walked up to the deck and found the men darting from place to place, getting the ship running and keeping it so.
The double-layered hull and copper sheathing weighed her down something fierce, but she was still a Velaryon ship. We could smoke most others in the open sea. But it turned out those were just some of the ships that we weren't faster than. They would catch up, I judged after watching things for half an hour. I remained at my position near the ship's prow, looking out at the wider sea. We needed something to slow them down but how would we do it.
"They are catching up, Captain," I heard one of the men tell Vaemond what I had surmised some minutes ago.
"What's the next part of your plan, Laenor?" Vaemond asked, coming up to me.
"Igneel is coming. We just have to remain ahead of them for long enough," I said.
"All the way from Bloodstone? Even flying, it could take as long as half a day for him to get here," he said.
"Then you know how long you need to buy us," I said.
"We might have to unload some of the cargo to reduce our weight," he said.
"Toss over whatever excess food we still have. We're only a few days away from Bloodstone. Keep enough for us to split in small rations. Better hungry than dead or worse," I said. He nodded.
He went down into the cargo hold with some of the men and they began unloading the food and tossing it overboard. We were reducing our weight but even I could feel that it wasn't enough. I would have to make the hard call sooner rather than later, but it was a hard call for a reason. Part of me doubted that the men would even obey the order were I to give it.
It was the logical thing to do, but logic was the first thing to get tossed out the window when emotions were running high. Could I ask them to toss out the gold that they had risked their lives and lost friends for? I knew the Valyrian steel was the real treasure, but what did a fancy sword matter to some sailors?
Vaemond approached again. He wanted me to give the order, I could tell. He knew what needed to be done but didn't want to be the one on the hook for it. I sighed.
"They continue to gain on us," he said. I nodded.
"How long do you think we have?" I asked.
"Three hours at the best," he said.
"Toss out my share of the gold. Make sure the men know it is only my share being tossed," I said. He gave me a look I couldn't place before clapping me on the shoulder and moving to carry out the order.
Hopefully the gold would slow down the pirates as well— even if I doubted that they were anything of the sort. This was state action, undoubtedly. Either the Triarchy or Volantis had been able to figure out where we were going and made preparations to ambush us on our return.
My gold lightened us a fair bit and we kept going for hours on hours, but even that was not enough in the end. By the time the sun began to set they were almost in engagement range.
"Load the scorpions. Prepare for battle," Vaemond called out. I scoffed. We were probably better armed than they but there was no world where we would be defeating twelve ships in a naval battle. Definitely not when the ships were as well-built as those ones. They were probably armed accordingly.
"Raise a parley flag," I ordered, overruling him. I could feel Igneel. He was close. I just needed to buy him time.
"Parley?" Vaemond asked in shock.
"Perhaps there can be something achieved with discourse rather than violence. If they came for gold, I'm sure we can share some of it with them. That would be preferable to dying, would it not?" I asked.
"They'd sooner sink us and take every last bit," Vaemond said.
"They'd do that either way if we tried to fight. Trust me, Uncle," I said. His gaze hardened at that and I realised I'd made a mistake. The last time I'd asked him to trust me, I'd led over a dozen men to their deaths.
Still, he said nothing. He just looked at me. I wondered if this would be the time. Would he finally take his chance now? If he mutinied, he and his men would probably have a good chance of taking me out here and now. If this was Volantis, they could probably barter me for their freedom. I wouldn't take the deal if I was on the other end of it with the chance of taking the whole ship right there, but the captain of this fleet could be more cowardly.
A victory without losing a single ship was a massive thing.
"They have the arms to sink us if we tried to resist. We could manage to take maybe three or four of them in a dogfight if it came to it. They have eight more right behind those four that would fire on us the second we tried. We don't have the manoeuvrability or speed to escape. We don't have the firepower to win. Raise the parley flag. I'll delay them long enough for Igneel to arrive and then we will win. Please, Uncle," I tried again, and this time, there was a softness to his face.
"You remind me of your father," he said.
"Thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment. Corlys always ate more than he could chew when we were younger. He wanted everything and had no understanding of the concept of enough. It got him killed," he said, taking a step away from me.
"Raise the flag for parley," he said. And then he walked off to direct the men on turning the ship to prepare for negotiations.
The grey flag of parley replaced the Velaryon standard and I felt the ship begin to make an about-turn to face our chasers. The scorpions were primed, armed and aimed. I felt the temptation to attack right now. Igneel was still far enough away that he couldn't see the fleet, but with the element of surprise, I felt we could take maybe a third of them out. All we had to do was cripple the ships, not necessarily destroy them.
The temptation was there as they came closer and closer, flying their grey flags as well. I watched as their ships moved to surround us, tightly packing us in their midst. It would make it impossible for us to escape, and much harder for Igneel to take them out without risking us in the process. The former was intentional, and the latter probably accidental. Because only fools would remain if they knew a dragon was coming.
They signed that they wanted to board. I turned to Vaemond, considering it. It was even more dangerous, having some of them on our ship.
"Tell them six and no more," I said, feeling at the blade on my waist. Surrounded by enemies, my dragon some distance away, and yet I had never felt quite so powerful. I could feel the magic sing in my veins even as their noose tightened.
A/N: Chapter done and dusted. Obviously Laenor would not die in Valyria, but he will learn from it. Perhaps a bit too much. Next five 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.