Chapter 22: Chapter 8: Fire (Part 3)

He was met by Ryam Redwyne, who began putting on his armor, heavy plate of shining silver, with ruby and onyx in the shape of the dragon on the chest. The armor was too heavy to fight on foot or horse with, even for Aegon, but it would serve on the back of the Dragon.

‘’How do you mean to avoid the Scorpions your grace.’’ Lord Commander Corlys asked , his role  would be to lead the ground troops outside the castle, once Yronwood had its share of Dragonfire, he would enter the castle and accept the surviving garrison's surrender.

‘’We will fly straight down into the center, obscured by the sun, then we'll destroy the scorpions, one by one…they won't resist long after that.’’ Aegon answered, as Ryam placed a heavy plate helm on his head.

Corlys nodded ‘’You will succeed cousin.’’

One Aegon was armored he left his tent where Rhaenys was waiting, garbed in lighter armor of black leather and scales.

‘’Fly high….out of range of their arrows and throwing spears, Scorpions shoot slowly but they will focus their fire on us….don't ride in a  straight line….and most importantly we must stay spread, if we ride close together it will be easy to hit us.’’ Aegon said as they walked towards their Dragon, who true to their nature seemed to sense they were needed.

Rhaenys nodded, her normally cheerful and lighthearted attitude replaced with a serious one ‘’I shall take the scorpions on the right battlements, you take the ones on the left and center.’’

As Aegon approached, Balerion lowered his head and neck, allowing Aegon to climb on, Aegon had not ridden Balerion in combat since the Field of Fire, more than two years prior, but the memories of the battle came back to him now.

‘’Fire and Blood.’’ Aegon said to Rhaenys, who had mounted the silver Meraxes, his sister nodded and together they flew towards the sky.

Aegon could hear the shouts of Yronwoods garrison running to their battle stations as he commanded Balerion to fly into the air with his whip. They flew straight up into the sky, hundreds of feet into sky, hurtling vertically towards the sun, with Rhaenys and Meraxes following at a distance.

Around twenty feet away, Aegon saw a scorpion bolt flying high into the sky, eventually losing power and falling harmlessly to the ground.

The King continued his flight straight into the air before, sensing the time was right, ordered Balerion down, the wind screaming as they cut through the air in a downward spiral, the sun at their back.

He heard shouts from below as well as the whistling flight of arrows, but he forced himself to ignore that, he needed complete concentration. He heard shouts of confusion from below as the garrison tried to

The courtyard of Yronwood came into view, Balerion hurtling straight down towards it, the thrum of a scorpion being fired was heard and Aegon ordered Balerion up suddenly, putting him level with one of the sidewalls as well as one of the scorpions, its crew desperately trying to reload it, but it was too late.

‘’Dracarys.’’ Aegon commanded and the entire wall was bathed in flame, the scorpion being set alight as the men on the wall shared in the flame, many jumping or falling to their deaths off the wall to escape the fire.

He allowed himself a quick look to the side and saw Rhaenys had taken out one of the Scorpions on the other side, dozens of men screaming in pain.

He flew across the courtyard, Balerions wings blocking the sun as the Dragon let forth another stream of fire on a group of men, several arrows clattered harmlessly off of his side, Aegon spotted a group of archers and soon they too were bathed in flame.

By this point most of the Scorpions had been destroyed, but there was one left, sitting atop a large stone tower that could only be the keep, Aegon ordered Balerion forward, the Dragon dodging an incoming scorpion bolt.

As they got closer, Aegon could make out the face of Ser Cletus Yronwood, with his squire and brother close behind, all screaming for the scorpion to reload, but it was too late for them. Aegon looked at Cletus as he flew closer, a look of defeat in the man's pale blue eyes as he accepted his fate.

Balerion bathed the entire towertop in black-red fire and where there had once been a large group of men now there was only flame, only the screams proof that men had once been there.

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It was then that tragedy struck. The Scorpion on top of the tower, burning and on fire, plummeted down to the courtyard below….right in front of the entrance to the keep, obstructing the door.

Smoke was everywhere, and as Aegon  flew around, he saw that a fire had started in the keep too, causing its inhabitants, mostly women and old men to crowd around the tower window for air, likely the court and family of the Lord of Yronwood, unable to escape due to the fallen scorpion.

‘’AEGON….WE HAVE TO SAVE THEM.’’ Rhaenys shouted, turning Meraxes around and flying towards the burning tower.

‘’THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO….IT'S GOING TO FALL.’’ Aegon yelled back, an arrow flying just feet away from his face, if Rhaenys attempted to help them, the tower, which was severely damaged by the huge scorpion falling could fall down and strike Meraxes from the air.

Rhaenys ignored him and with a  determined look flew towards the smoking tower, in the window among the crowd, a gray haired woman was standing, holding a toddler out into the air, screaming for help.

Rhaenys had Meraxes position itself to fly alongside the side of the tower, holding out her hands to grab the child, Aegon, seeing his sister was not going to listen to him, ordered Balerion towards the tower to help.

Rhaenys was about twenty feet away from the tower, one arm outstretched to try and grab the toddler as she passed by, but she was too late.

The tower fell, its foundation cracked and broken by the scorpion's impact from falling from the top.

Rhaenys shouted a scream of horror, and Meraxes was just barely able to get out of the falling towers path. The tower hit the ground with a massive crash, sending chunks of stone everywhere, a cloud of dust overtaking the entire courtyard.

The fall of the tower marked the last resistance inside the castle, as the surviving garrison laid down their weapons and opened the gate for Corlys Velaryons forces.

Aegon ordered the tower's rubble to be searched for survivors, but he knew it was hopeless, none could have survived the towers fall.

In the space of an hour, House Yronwood, the second greatest house in Dorne, a house that claimed ancestry to the first men thousands of years ago was all but destroyed, with most of its members perishing in the tragedy, save for the elderly lord Yronwood who was with the main Dornish army, as well as his sisters who were married off to other houses, and whose children were not Yronwoods.

In addition to the deaths of the Yronwoods, two local lords, Mors Jordayne and Castos Toland, the spymaster and master-at-arms of Yronwood would also perish in the flames, Mors in the tower and Castos upon the battlements. Even the Yronwoods maester perished.

Rhaenys would be devastated and horrified at the destruction they had reaped upon House Yronwood, and would be inconsolable for days, walking among the ruined tower looking for the child she had failed to save.

The only saving grace, slight as it was, was the fact that Grandmaester Arlan had been present and had watched the tragedy unfold. He would record the truth of the event, the histories would always refer to the burning of the Yronwoods as a terrible accident and not the work of a tyrannical and murderous King. Arlan also did his best to treat the surviving garrison, many of whom were badly burned.

The Dornish, as one would expect, were furious when they heard of the burning of Yronwood, and throwing all caution into the wind, abandoned their plans for a defensive war and marched their host to meet Aegons army outside the smoking castle of Yronwood, where a great battle would soon take place.

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