Chapter 73: Chapter 34: The First Flight (Part 2)

‘’Dragons?’’ Lord Sunderland said, raising his eyebrows.

 

‘’Well…a single dragon.’’ Nyel corrected herself, suddenly feeling unsure of her idea.

 

The largest of the Targaryen dragons were not available to them, her mothers dragon Vhagar prowled and hunted around the Crownlands, while her aunts dragon Meraxes had flown in the direction of the narrow sea after her rider's death,and no word had been heard since.

Matarys’s small dragon Aelesar had followed her brothers galley to Dragonstone and was too small to be of much use in war, while Vaemonds dragon Moondancer had accompanied her brother west, though Vae thought it was still too early to deploy it in combat.

 

That left only Narrah, Nyels dragon, who she had hatched on Dragonstone as a girl. Narrah was the oldest of the three younger Targaryen dragons and the biggest of them, measuring around 15 feet in length.

Nyel was an experienced rider, flying much in her youth, though her joyrides had lessened significantly with the birth of her daughter Laena and the war.

 

‘’Is your dragon big enough your Grace….forgive me for my bluntness but your parents Dragons were effective in the conquest in large part due to their size, I have seen your dragon flying over the city often and it must be said it is only a fourth the size of your mothers dragon and half that again compared to your fathers dragon’’ Nestor Royce said courteously.

 

‘’Narrah is large enough to fly, as to her significance in combat that remains unknown.’’ Nyel said, as usual referring to her dragon as a she, even though it was a well known fact dragons were genderless beasts.

 

‘’Be that as it may, it is well known that one cannot merely set a dragon upon their enemies from a great distance, it must be ridden your grace….true enough your Narrah could prove to be an advantage in a battle your Grace, but in order to be deployed you would have to participate in the battle personally.’’ Lord Tanton Sunderland said to her, with a searching look.

 

‘’It may be the only way to avoid a siege, even if we are defeated, perhaps our attack will give them pause.’’ Nyel said.

 

‘’Your dragon could destroy their siege engines….reports say they have built them ahead of time, which suggests an assault of the city is imminent, they know your brother is on their heels.’’ Lord Tanton mused.

 

‘’Have you gone mad…this is the queen of the seven Kingdoms not a trebuchet, no advantage is worth risking her life…if she comes to any harm it would be our fault.’’ Lord Royce said, his normally calm demeanor replaced with a quick outburst.

 

‘’You are right Nestor….she is the Queen of the seven Kingdoms, a Targaryen and daughter of Aegon the Conqueror at that….if she feels the risk is necessary then who are we to keep her from the front lines..’’ The Sistermen responded.

 

Nestor Royce calmed ‘’I of course would not presume to command you your Grace…the decision is yours.’’

 

Nyel was aware that both lords were looking to her for an answer.

 

She nodded slowly ‘’If we can destroy their siege weapons and force them to build new ones we can delay an assault, giving my brother time to engage them in a decisive battle….but if there is to be any chance of that my dragon is needed….I will join the attack.’’

 

Nestor Royce bowed his head ‘’It shall be as you say your Grace.’’

 

Three days later Lords Sunderland, Royce and Queen Nyel would depart the city with a host of some 6300 men to attempt to delay or defeat the first Lannister host.

 

 

5 Days Later

Outskirts of Kings Landing

 

Nyel began the decisive morning of battle by vomiting in her tent.

 

She knelt over the wash bucket in the corner of her tent and retched, holding her stomach.

 

Not now She thought to herself, but her body was indifferent to her pleas and she retched again.

 

It was not nervousness that afflicted Nyel, she knew herself well enough to know that much.

 

Though she had not received much of a martial education from her mother, she did inherit her mothers bold temperament and ability to remain calm under duress, and in the days leading up to the battle her anxiousness had been focused more on the battle's result than her impending participation in the battle.

She knew herself well enough to know that it was not nervousness, but pregnancy.

 

Some time after her brother Vaemond had been wounded in the storming of Greenfield, and only a few weeks prior, he had flown to King's Landing on the back of Moondancer on a whim, without any guards. He spent two days in the capitol, meeting his new nephew Jaekar and reuniting with Matarys, whom he had not seen in almost two years, before returning back west to join his host in sieging another castle.

 

She had some cause to suspect she was pregnant, but she had only hoped she was late, but now she had the truth…she remembered the early morning sicknesses very well from the births of Aelyx and Laena.

 

 

She could not go to Grandmaester Arlan to confirm and drink a poultice for relief, and she had not brought her maids with her on campaign, not wanting to risk their lives, she was alone.

 

When the nausea had passed, she rose and paced the room slowly, considering her options. Nyel did not fear for her own life in the coming battle, but it was not lost on her that it was not just her own life at stake now.

 

I cannot leave Nyel thought to herself, the Lannister army was close and they would not be able to break camp and retreat back to the city in time, without her and her dragon the battle was surely lost and the siege weapons would remain intact.

 

We must be brave little one Nyel thought to herself, placing a hand on her belly before slowly making her way to the corner of the tent and donning her mothers light black leather armor, resplendent with red rubies and a silver belt, too flashy for Nyels taste but she felt close to her mother wearing her armor, following this she buckled on her mothers Valyrian Steel sword Dark Sister, she would have little cause to use it on Dragonback…or so she hoped, but she did not feel wholly equipped without some sort of weapon.

 

The clamor outside the tent showed that it was time, units were forming into their positions, and last minute inspections were being conducted.

 

Nyel pushed open the tent, raising a hand over her eyes to cover the unpleasant glare from the sun, soldiers and gold cloaks bowed respectfully as she passed and Nyel hoped she didn't look as sickly and unkempt as she felt.

 

Nestor Royce was mounted and armored in his bronze plate and rode to meet her.

‘’Lord Royce.’’ Nyel said, greeting him

 

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The Lord of Runestone bowed his head, ‘’My Queen, the rebels will be here within the hour, perhaps two….you do not have to do this…say the word and I will send my best riders to escort you back to the city.’’

 

‘’I appreciate your kindness Lord Royce but I will not run…I will take you up on that escort however, it is time I found Narrah.’’ Nyel replied.

 

With her escort formed, Nyel pushed the horse hard, feeling the wind on her face, and for a while her nausea was forgotten, there was no way to prepare for riding a dragon into combat but the ride refreshed her considerably.

 

She found Narrah where she had expected she would be, by the river two miles outside the war camp feasting on the deer which were plentiful as a small forest bordered the river, and judging by the large pile of burned skeletons her current meal was not the first course.

 

She approached the red dragon and Narrah turned to greet her. Nyel ran a hand down one of her bone white horns, a coloring which continued in a straight line from head to tail down her red scales, Narrah, always an affectionate dragon, nuzzled her face softly, and Nyel took comfort in the familiar rough scales.

 

Her escort stood back and watched astonished as Nyel attached a heavy leather riding harness to Narrahs back as the Dragon returned to its feast, unbothered.

 

‘’I thank you for your escort.’’ Nyel said to her guards before climbing onto the saddle and urging Narrah to flight. It took a few tries as Narrah did not want to leave behind her kill but eventually they were airborne.

 

Few things filled Nyel with such joy as the initial burst of wind and adrenaline that came from flying, but the sight in front of her reminded the Queen that today was not a joyride but instead a day of death.

 

From the sky she was able to see the approaching rebel host, marching towards her own army, the gold cloth cloaks and painted helmets of the city watch, who constituted around half of their forces glinting in the sun, she saw Nestor Royces banner flying on the left flank, while Lord Sunderlands was positioned on the right.

 

She gave another glance at the Lannister force, which even to Nyels untrained eye clearly had more light cavalry and heavy horse. She saw many smaller banners flying but the most prominent one was one she recognized, a black and white boar on brown, the sigil of Lord Sumner Crakehall, the father of Roland Crakehall who served on her brothers Kingsguard.

 

His banner flew in the reserve, behind his two flanks and consisting of a much smaller force than the other flanks, but behind his lines she saw the siege engines that had been constructed ahead of time, engines which would no doubt be used to launch an assault on King's Landing's 7 gates, she was pleased to see the mangonels, trebuchets, and scaling ladders were made of wood, and not even covered in wet pelts or other material, they would burn easily, and there were no traces of scorpions either.

 

As she got closer to the field, she heard shouts of alarm down below from the Lannisters as their forces spotted the small red dragon with the white horns and stripe, a promising sign as their scouts had clearly not spotted Narrah in the vicinity, she hoped that the appearance of her dragon, small or no, would cause no small amount of hesitation and fear within their ranks.

 

As she flew closer to the impending battle, a cacophony of trumpets and horns were heard down below as Lord Royce and Lord Sunderland sent their light horse forward in a charge towards the Lannister lines, who began to form their men at arms in 2 lines to meet them.

 

This had been part of their plan, Lords Royce and Sunderland had hoped that taking the initiative and offensive with a cavalry charge, the rebels wouldn't have time to form lines of archers which could endanger Nyel, nevertheless she knew she didn't have long, her two commanders were experienced men but a good deal of their light cavalry consisted of mounted gold cloaks, suited more for crowd control than pitched battle.

 

Nyel urged Narrah over the fighting, keeping high in the air between the two flanks, heading straight for Sumner Crakehalls reserves.

 

She was vaguely aware of the sounds of arrows and quarrels whistling through the air, but she blocked it from her mind, Narrah too, despite never being exposed to combat before, seemed to inherently know how to best avoid the arrows as they plummeted down towards the enemy reserves and siege engines, her own men at arms joining the attack below.

 

Nyel ducked downwards on her saddle grabbing hold  of Narrahs neck to make herself as small a target as possible as a crossbow bolt whistled just inches above her, she didn't even need to give the command as Narrah bathed a bold column of men-at arms with throwing spears with flame as they stepped forward from their ranks, Narrahs fire almost as red as the crimson banners of the Lannisters. The unfortunate soldiers dropped their spears and screamed as they burned.

 

Seeing her own men were close behind and joining the fray, Nyel urged Narrah up with her spurred boots, out of range of the approaching arrows.

 

As her own men battled below, she commanded Narrah past the fighting towards the rear where the siege engines stood, many of them attached by ropes and harnesses to large packhorses.

 

Narrah made another dive and upon Nyels kick of spurred boots, loosed a burst of flame at a wooden Mangonel, it took two more passes to fully set it alight as Narrah was a small dragon and her fire was significantly weaker than her predecessors, but once the Mangonel was set alight the fire began to spread while a bald quartermaster attempting to douse the dragonflame with a little bucket of water soon found himself aflame as well.

 

A throwing spear sailed harmlessly to her right as they dove again and Narrah let out a scorching burst of flame on a row of several small trebuchets and catapults, this time it only took one pass to set them alight as the hemp rope was very dry.

 

Seeing the guards assigned to the siege engines begin forming an organized line to shoot crossbows, Nyel ordered Narrah upwards again.

 

Sparing a glance to the other areas of the battle, she saw Nestor Royces calvary were pulling back from their charge and his infantry was in full retreat as the rebels ordered their flank to pursue them, Lord Sunderlands calvary fought valiantly on, but it was clear he would not be able to keep up the attack much longer either.

 

Seeing most of the siege weapons were burning, Nyel urged Narrah back to help her own men, who had caused the small reserve force much difficulty and were pushing them back towards the flames.

 

The sight of Narrah returning was enough to make many of the wiser rebels flee immediately, though a band of half a dozen had to be taught a harsh lesson with Dragonfire.

 

Returning to the skies, Nyel saw that Lord Sunderland calvary had been repulsed and his flank was joining Lord Royces men in fleeing the battle, her center flank had set Sumner Crakehalls reserves running, and Narrah had burned their siege engines, but if they remained much longer they would be trapped between the rebels side flanks.

She urged Narrah up to the skies and shouted Dracarys, the Valyrian command which prompted dragons to breathe fire on command, Narrah obeyed, albeit with some confusion and a plume of fire torched the sky.

Her soldiers below, seeing the signal began their retreat, with Westerman knights and light cavalry in hot pursuit of all 3 lines.

 

Nyel stayed behind, though the air was rapidly filling with more and more arrows gradually getting closer as the rebels were able to form firing lines, but Nyel ignored them, she would do her part.

 

She urged Narrah to set the flatlands aflame, hoping that the obstacle would impede at least some of the pursuing knights.

Finally, even Nyel was forced to admit staying any longer would be foolish as an arrow embedded itself in the leather riding saddle near her legs.

 

She urged Narrah up one final time, flying high into the sky and out of range of the arrow fires…flying in the direction of Kings Landing, below her she could hear shouts and screams of the rearguard assigned to hold back the rebel heavy cavalry pursuers and allow the greater part of the force to retreat back to King's Landing.

 

It was a bloody sortie, Nyel had gotten the sense of that even from Dragonback, and by the time her commanders were able to do an inspection of their remaining forces who had limped back to the capitol, it became even more apparent that destroying the rebel siege engines had come at a heavy cost.

Some 1200 men were dead, while another 1200 were heavily wounded or captured by the rebel heavy knights that had pursued them following their retreat, among the dead were many gold cloaks, who despite not being trained for pitched battle had fought bravely in defense of their city.

 

The rebel casualties had been much lower, with Lord Sunderland estimating they had taken no more than 600 dead and wounded, but the primary objective of the battle had been achieved…the siege weapons had been destroyed and the rebel force would have to delay at least a few days to build new ones and regroup after their losses.

 

Nyel could only hope they had bought themselves enough time for her brother Vaemond to arrive from the west, for if the rebels had time to build new siege engines, the heavy sacrifice would be for naught.

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