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SLW Chapter 70 : Wayfarer's Rest
🕑 Added 2025-05-09 20:40:59 +0000 UTCAeron lingered in the hall as the quiet resumed around him, the sealed raven-scroll now tucked beneath his cloak. His violet eyes turned back toward Lord Edmure Tully, who looked caught somewhere between worry and awe.
“Be so kind,” Aeron said, voice smooth and commanding, “and send a raven back to KingsLanding.”
Edmure blinked, surprised. “And… refuse the call, naturally?”
Aeron shook his head once. “No. To accept it. I will head to the capital… once I’ve fulfilled what I just promised you.”
A murmur passed through the gathered nobles around them like a gust of wind through dry leaves.
From his seat, Ser Brynden Blackfish leaned forward, eyes sharp beneath grey brows. “You’re certain that’s the rational choice?” he asked, his voice like gravel. “A suspicious summon, delivered by raven, signed by none other than Tywin Lannister?”
Aeron didn’t answer at first.
Instead, he stepped forward.
And the air changed.
Like storm clouds gathering behind his eyes, a pressure rolled out from him weightless and yet suffocating, a force that made the torches flicker and the guards shift nervously at the walls.
Daenerys felt it but did not flinch. The rest did.
Brynden’s lips pressed into a hard line, his knuckles whitening on the arms of his chair. But he said nothing more.
“They can’t harm me,” Aeron said simply, his voice soft but in that moment, it sounded like prophecy.
A long silence followed.
Then Edmure cleared his throat and nodded quickly. “...Well. Whatever you wish, Your Grace..”
Across the table, Lady Catelyn Stark gave her nephew a sharp, withering look but Edmure refused to meet her eyes. The decision had been made. And Riverrun, like Winterfell, had already chosen its side.
Aeron turned without another word.
Daenerys rose beside him, the soft clink of her boots echoing on the stone floor as they walked in step, cloaks trailing behind like storm banners. The great doors of the hall opened to meet them and together, they stepped into the light outside.
****
Courtyard of Riverrun – moments later
The sky was bruised with cloud, and their dragons waited Drogon Calm, Cannibal still smoldering faintly from within his shadowy obisdian scales.
As they descended the steps, Daenerys broke the silence.
“I know what you can do now, I’ve seen it” she said, her voice low but firm. “I’m not worried about the snakes slithering through the Red Keep.”
She looked to him, golden hair catching the wind.
“But are you truly going to go? You’d walk into their pit, knowing full well what they’ve done?”
Aeron’s jaw tightened, but his gaze was unwavering.
“Yes,” he said. “Because they might see reason. They might see that resistance is pointless that the fire and shadow we bring cannot be stopped.”
Daenerys looked away, her voice colder. “Those bastards stabbed my family in the back while smiling. They’ll do it again.”
Aeron slowed.
He turned to her. “I’m sorry,” he said, tone genuine. “But your father had it coming for him.”
A beat of silence.
Daenerys stood frozen rage flickering in her eyes, but then dying. She breathed out slowly.
“I know,” she admitted. “He was truly a mad king. I just..” Her voice faltered. “Sometimes I wonder if I'm repeating the same mistakes.”
“I didn’t mean it cruelly,” Aeron said, reaching for her hand. “But just trust me.”
And she did.
Their fingers locked. She exhaled, steadied by his touch.
In front of their dragons now, with storm winds brushing their cloaks and the Riverlands stretched beneath them like a battlefield waiting for judgment, Aeron spoke again.
“When our work here is finished… you’ll come with me, to the Capital”
He looked into her eyes no command, just certainty.
“To the capital.”
Daenerys stared back at him hard, then softened.
“Fine,” she said. “But if they try anything..”
Aeron smiled faintly.
“That,” he said, “we won't be a problem.”
They mounted their dragons and wings rising like war banners and took to the skies.
every soldier, servant, and lord frozen in place as if the very air had turned to stone.
Whispers carried like wildfire.
Lady Catelyn stood watching from the entrance of the great hall, face unreadable. But even she proud, sharp-tongued, steel-willed could not deny the power that had just taken flight.
Lord Edmure swallowed, then exhaled with a nervous chuckle. “Well… that went alot more peaceful than I thought it would.”
Ser Brynden Blackfish said nothing.
He simply watched the vanishing specks in the sky, the light of the sun burning around them.
****
The skies above the Riverlands were blue and cold, streaked with white clouds. The wind whipped around them as Cannibal and Drogon soared side by side, two monstrous silhouettes burning across the heavens.
Aeron’s cloak snapped behind him, his violet eyes half-lidded as he watched the world stretch below. With each wingbeat of the great dragon beneath him, he felt the rhythm of power, of destiny.
He leaned forward slightly, voice carried over the wind.
“One stop before the capital. Shouldn’t take too long.”
Daenerys, riding Drogon just behind, cupped her hand to her ear.
“What?! I can’t hear you over the wind!”
Aeron glanced over his shoulder and smirked faintly.
“Nevermind,” he called.
But then
He froze.
His pupils narrowed into slits. The hair on his arms stood. Some deep, instinct flared to life in his chest danger.
And without a thought, he made the Cannibal twist violently in the air with a shrieking roar and slammed shoulder-first into Drogon, sending the younger dragon spinning sideways through the sky.
“AHHH!” Daenerys screamed, clutching Drogon and whatever she can hold on to. The Dragon shrieked, wings flapping frantically as he struggled to stabilize.
A scorpion bolt screamed through the space Drogon had just vacated. The tip flashed with cruel steel and grazed the air with death’s whisper.
Daenerys gasped, eyes wide in disbelief. Her hands trembled as she looked at Aeron, voice breaking.
“That… that would’ve hit us!”
Aeron’s gaze was already locked downward.
Wayfarer’s Rest Keep. A quiet Lannister-held fortress west of Riverrun.
On its battlements fluttered the lion banner, red and gold and full of arrogance.
But in the walls…
“ A scorpion.”
Massive. Crude. Deadly. A second bolt already being cranked into place.
“They brought one of those here?” Aeron muttered, more surprised than angry.
Daenerys glared downward, fury rising in her chest.
“Why would they place a weapon like that so far from the capital?”
“Because they knew we were coming,” Aeron said grimly. “Strange.. they must’ve been warned.”
“Treachery.” Daenerys hissed. “the same kind that killed my family.”
“Perhaps, Though I’m sure this is not House Tully’s doing.” Aeron said, cold as winter steel. “As for these guys.. they won’t live to see tomorrow.”
Another click echoed from below. The second bolt fired, this time aimed directly at him.
Cannibal’s head jerked, mouth opening mid-flight and the beast caught the bolt in his jaws, crushing it like dry bone. Sparks and shards rained down to the earth below.
“Gods,” Daenerys whispered, stunned. “He just… ate it.”
Aeron finally turned to her, his voice serious now.
“Stay behind me.”
“What?”
“I said..stay behind me!”
“My dragon is immortal. Yours is not.”
She frowned, but obeyed, pulling Drogon back a pace.
And then Aeron dove.
Cannibal tucked his wings, the wind howling louder than a scream as they plummeted toward the keep like a meteor from the gods. Flame glowed in the beast’s throat, building, boiling, seeking vengeance.
“I’ll melt their walls,” Aeron growled, voice laced with fire and fury.
At the center of the courtyard, standing near the mounted scorpion, was Ser Jaime Lannister cloak draped over one shoulder, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
His expression was bored. Tense. Eyes squinting toward the distant horizon.
“Crank it tighter,” he said, nodding at the scorpion crew. “If we’re lucky, the gods will hand us a dragon’s head for supper.”
One of the soldiers laughed nervously. Another adjusted the bolt.
A scout came started to scream.
“Ser! The Dragon is approaching!”
Jaime raised an eyebrow. He stepped forward, and looked up.
And there cutting through the clouds a beast, wings spread wide, shadowing the earth itself.
He cursed under his breath.
“Well, shit.”
As they came into view, Jaime felt the unmistakable tug of dread.
“That’s not just any dragon...” he muttered.
A moment later, he saw him clearly atop the beast.
Aeron Grim.
His face hardened. He turned toward his men.
“Take cover! Now!”
“But Ser Jaime, the scorpion!”
“Leave it! Get inside! Get under stone or get turned to ash!”
Comments
Bendoumi Anes
Unfortunately not, a discord is quite bothersome to maintain.
J-Bachira
Author do you have a discord where you show images?
