118
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298 AC
Summer Isles - The Cove
Marwyn the Mage
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I was worried at first that Prince Doran was rethinking our agreement and wanted to silence me but instead I had my things packed and put on a ship. I thought they would send me back to Oldtown and I was planning an escape since I didn't leave on the best terms from the citadel.
But then the fact we were loading early morning and the abundance of soldiers loading on put me at ease.
The candle lighting up more and more along the trip to this island has been the most interesting discovery. I can only assume the Valyrian dormant magic is reacting to other Valyrian magic, the dragons, or the prince himself I do not know.
I have figured roughly where we traveled to, Summer Isles by my guess from the stars and the words I have overheard. Not a bad spot to hide, it's close, and for the king of Westeros to sail to it he would have to pass Sunspear on the way down. Many uninhabited islands and dense jungles are packed with wildlife to feed dragons and the ocean itself for fish.
The Cove we arrived in made my eyes widen quite a bit, it's beautiful and pretty discreet tucked behind stone walls with high cliffs. The smoke from cooking gives away their position but no one is expecting them and would only assume it's Summer Islanders. Sailing in here they would soon find out their assumptions were wrong and it would be too late. Large rocks over the edge of the entrance we sailed in ready to be dropped from above on any intruders.
Defenses built all around and even some pretty well-built buildings of varying woods, what looks like a thriving city is before me. Ignoring all the armor and weapons it could pass as a starting settlement almost half the warriors being female also helps give it a different feeling than an army camp.
I am not one to get nervous about things, I have scoured Westeros and Essos and been in many dangerous situations. But for some reason, my hands feel a bit sweaty knowing I am about to meet the silver-haired prince from the candle. I wonder how big the dragons have gotten since they hatched from the massive pyre.
My boots sink into the sand as I step off the oar boat we used to get to shore and I help push it back into the water so it can go get more people from the ship. I wipe my forehead with my shirt and turn around to see a woman approaching me.
"I was just informed you are a 'guest' sent by Doran and you are here to show Eragon something. I won't waste time since Doran obviously approved of this but I still want you to surrender anything that could be used as a weapon. Not that I think you could actually harm the prince..." The last bit was a whisper as I hand over my Valyrian steel rod and mask and her eyes widened seeing a man beside her grab the rod.
"Valyrian steel." She nods as she waves me to follow her.
"I will show you to where you will wait until Eragon is ready to meet with you." I eye the man with my items and seeing he is following along with us I sigh in relief.
Would be unfortunate if they stole my rod and tried to melt it down into a blade or something.
A screech from above freezes me in place as my head snaps up so fast I feel pain in the back of my head. The pain is forgotten as soon as I felt it as my eyes see the source of the odd noise.
The sun reflects its golden scales as it circles above and the beating of its wings sounds like a bat more than a bird. The size from where I am standing makes me rub my eyes in shock, it's massive compared to one of the tiny things that clung to Eragon in the candle. If before they were tiny as kittens then the one I am seeing now is easily the size of a hound.
My knowledge of dragons from the studies done by the privileged few who entered the dragon pit in times long past is stunned. Dragon growth is speculated to have many factors but I can't help but question them if what I am seeing is true. It hasn't even been a year and this golden one is the size or is bigger than the last dragon that lived and died in Kingslanding.
The golden dragon swoops into a 'cave' that has guards stationed around it and wooden towers built on the sides of the entrance. It is the most fortified spot here and I am thinking this is where the dragons and Targaryens who are here are located. My curiosity and desire to know more almost burn me alive as I look into the cave and see people inside.
"Let's go, by the way, I forgot to introduce myself as I am in a hurry to get everything that is unloaded going to the right places. I am Ellaria Sand and you will come to me or ask someone for me whenever you want to talk to the prince or anything for that matter other than caring for yourself. We don't have overly strict rules in camp but we keep to the ones we have and we don't need someone showing up causing trouble." I clear my throat as I pick back up the pace following her, nothing out of the ordinary as I was expecting this kind of treatment.
"I see, I am Marwyn by the way and I would like to speak to the prince as soon as I can." She hums in response and I take one last look toward the cave before looking away.
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298 AC
Summer Isles - The Cove
Eragon Targaryen
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The last of the men and women are here and we are going to be leaving within the next few days. We will meet with the Summer Islanders who are helping us in-between Xon and Ebonhead where they have staged themselves.
Currently, I am a bit frustrated as I was quite busy a moment ago before Shiera 'kindly informed' me a man named Marwyn was here to talk to me. Shiera all but threw the door down as she made her entrance known to let me know of the guest. I was in the middle of keeping Nata pinned down with Rhaenyra's help and Nata took the chance to escape our entanglement.
"Could have waited, I feel like someone tied a rope around my nuts now and I don't even want to meet anyone. I definitely don't want to meet the person responsible for putting me in this position so they could see me." Shiera kisses my cheek as I sit on the edge of the bed and scrunch my brows.
"Don't worry we will get her together later on, cant stay in bed all day even though you have been enjoying yourself for the better part of a week." Shiera is a bit bitter she is being 'forced' into doing extra training recently and likes to point out whenever I 'slack off'.
Rhaenyra moves around on the bed and I feel her lean her front onto my back as her legs wrap around my waist and her arms go under my armpits and come around to my neck. I worried for a moment she was going to try something funny and when I feel her kiss my neck I relax.
"Nata isn't going anywhere, she will likely want to sit with you when you talk to this 'Marwyn' anyway." I snort and shake my head as they take great joy in my 'suffering'.
"Yea whatever, I will have plenty of time after talking to this guy to sort myself out. Let me get up so I can clean up a bit and not smell like a sex-crazed person." This time they snort at me as Shiera starts picking out some clean clothes and Rhaenyra lets me free.
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"Nice to meet you, Prince Eragon, I don't know who the rest of you are by face yet but I know you are all Princesses and I thank you for all of your time. I will skip straight to the point if that is ok with all of you." I nod eagerly as I lean back in my chair.
Everyone flooded the big table once a pretty odd-looking man arrived, he is dressed more like a skilled traveler than an Archmaester but apparently, that's his role in the citadel. The man named Marwyn downs some of the Summer rum we set out for him and sets his hands on the table.
"I watched you bring back the dragons." My eyes widen and I shift in my chair as my mind spins wondering where he could have been to see me.
Summerhall is a ruin and the red priests had been there in advance for a while before I arrived, I doubt he was hiding there just for fun.
"Where from?" He smiles wide an odd look for such a rough-looking man.
"From the Citadel, the reason I came to find you is to further my study in the very thing that allowed me to watch. I saw a red star flying overhead as my head pounded from a hangover and I noticed my glass candle was alight. I peered into its white flame and saw you and wrote everything I saw down to remember what it was I saw." He points to a notebook that is Infront of Ellaria and she raises an eyebrow curiously.
I look at the book wearily but ultimately decide it doesn't matter or any nut head who tried to use flames in the past would have hatched eggs before. I do send a look at Melisandre and spot her tilting her head and looking at the man with narrowed eyes. I smile seeing her with her hands folded and resting over her lower stomach, she isn't showing but she has me convinced she is carrying.
"We see things in the flame as well, what is your point in coming to me about it? A red priest can help you find R'hllor's light if that is what you seek and my red priestess is busy 'serving' me and doesn't have time to preach." He looks over at Melisandre and shakes his head in an amused way.
"Not the Lord of lights fire even if that is another reason I came to meet Azor Ahai come again. I saw you in the flame of the obsidian candle, a magical artifact from Valyria that can work magic of many unknown variates. One is to see far away and to communicate with people across vast distances. I came to you because they lit once more and not just mine showed you and your acts of reviving dragons but also the others in the Citadel." Silence is all he is met with after such a claim and I drop my feet off the table and lean forward.
"Alright, that does sound like something I should be concerned with. What all have you seen that others could have also seen?" He looks over at the item sitting on the table next to his notebook that Ellaria is now looking at with clear hesitation.
"The candle hasn't shown me much other than a few glimpses after the red star was gone but it did keep showing you so I know you are the cause. I want to study the effects of it staying around you and you even trying to interact with it. In return, any findings will be presented to you for your own use, like using it to spy on an enemy or communicate with some troops on the other side of a battlefield for a sneak attack. The candles have other uses but I haven't seen the personally and have only heard by ear or read about them in text." A look of surprise and clear interest is on most of the faces around the table and I don't see Melisandre showing any concern so I don't feel off-put.
Well, this wasn't what I was expecting to hear.