-x-x-x- Chapter 17 -x-x-x-

Dragonstone was a castle that, in its own way, was every bit as amazing as Casterly Rock. While Aenar Targaryen might have considered it a barely adequate hovel when he and his four wives built it all those years ago, anyone but a Dragonlord of the Valyrian Freehold would consider it a wonder of the world almost without peer.

Given that I had read his descriptions of Valyria at its height, and thanks to my modern memories actually had the context to grasp the scale of things like skyscrapers, I could understand his position even as I remained amazed almost beyond words at the sight before me.

Valyria was supposedly a vast valley surrounded by fourteen massive volcanoes that had each been wrapped in an edifice in the shape of a massive dragon and crafted out of what he called dragonstone. Each of the fourteen carried the name of a Valyrian god, and indeed was considered to be that god by the Valyrian's.

Aenar talked about how those fourteen temples were linked by the "sky bridge", which based on his description I imagined as something like the Long Bridge in Volantis except even larger and standing thousands of feet above the ground with no supports besides the great volcanic temples. About how forty towers that each would have dwarfed the Burj Khalifa of my memories rose from the valley inside that ring, with each being the domain of one of the Forty Families of the Blood.

It had been interesting to see just how massaged the Targaryen's official history had become over the years. Aenar, for example, was a mere fifty seventh in the line of succession for House Targaryen when he fled to Dragonstone with his four wives, his son, and his daughter. That he fled on the backs of dragons that could have easily conquered him the entire continent of Westeros at the time was irrelevant if you took his bitching at face value. Apparently the Lord Targaryen refused to let them take any Targaryen property if they wanted to go off and sully themselves by living outside Valyria like commoners.

And so they had set out to found a suitable home, and Aenar had considered it a good omen when they came across the volcanic island that would become Dragonstone. The dragons had feasted on the dragonglass and defecated out the raw dragonstone, but shaping it without any slaves to sacrifice had required the sacrifice of four of the dragons lives and so they had decided to make the best of a bad situation and used that sacrifice to bind the volcano at the islands center to their blood.

It had been interesting to find the secret of Valyrian sorcery so casually dropped but it had also made some sense when I thought about it. Dragons were fire given flesh and born from eggs of stone, and with their sacrifice one could bind a volcano to whomever the dragon was bonded to and their future bloodline. That link allowed the Valyrian's to draw the power needed for their sorcery from the volcano while their immunity to fire kept them safe from the backlash. Apparently, each of the Fourteen Flames had been so bound by the Forty who founded the Freehold; seven male and seven female. The need for more than one dragon sacrifice to raise Dragonstone had necessitated that the volcano become female aspected and so any female of pure enough blood descended from one of those four women would be born linked to the volcano.

That detail had explained why the Targaryen's had seemingly lost the sorcery that made the Dragonlords so infamous. With the Doom, the links to the Fourteen Flames had been destroyed and so the male Targaryen's no longer had any connection to those sources of power. The females had, on the other hand, retained such a connection to the Dragonstone volcano and so had access to the magics of old. At least if they were born on Dragonstone, where the "fires of the gods would purify the Blood". My guess based on looking at the history of the Targaryens was that some magic worked into the blood lines removed the inbreeding issues for those so purified, afterall there had never actually been a "mad" Targaryean women who had been born on Dragonstone.

Still, returning to Dragonstone, Aenar and his wives had used their magic - powered by the dragons sacrifice - to sculpt the dragonstone into a massive dragon that wrapped entirely around the volcano. Its tail curved down at a gentle angle and into the sea, where it took the shape of a massive dock of flawless, seamless, obsidian. That "tail" was also the main road up to the castle and even in the dead of winter it remained a steady eighty or so degrees.

The dragon lying in repose dominated the island with its head out, unsupported, over the opposite side of the island from the dock and its massive maw gaping open. That maw was large enough that it could have comfortable held even the Black Dread, its initial purpose was as a landing pad for dragons, and in the skull above it resided the Lord's chambers. The whole of the dragon was covered in exquisitely lifelike scales of red, green, blue, and black - the four colors of the dragons that had given their lives to sculpt it - and each burned hot enough to flash boil water.

From inside the massive dragon the exterior walls seemed completely transparent and acted like windows of the clearest glass while the ceilings of the entire castle gave off daylight like those enchanted torch's I had acquired, controllable by the thoughts of one with Targaryen blood who filled the tiny vial set into the wall of each room with their blood. The floors were flawless obsidian that seemed to simply eat up all light that contacted them, while the air was always fresh and the temperature always a pleasant seventy or so.

All told, the place just oozed magic from its every pore and had always impressed me. Now, with both my Earth context and the background details provided by the Targaryen's books I was only more impressed as I rode through the open gates of the dragons anus (even if it was shaped like a dragons maw) and into the stables.

Tyrion, who had never seen the grand fortress of the Targaryen's before was looking every which way as he tried to take it all in.

When I dismounted I was met by a man missing the fingers of one hand past the knuckles "Lord Lannister, welcome to Dragonstone. If you would follow me, the Prince is waiting."

Helping Tyrion down from his horse I said "Of course, Ser Davos isn't it?"

The man blinked once, clearly surprised I knew his name, "Indeed, Lord Lannister."

"Well then lead on, Ser Davos." I continued, using a subtle hand-signal to indicate to my guards that only Tyrion's and my inner most ring of protection should come with us. With that Ser Davos led Tyrion, myself, and each of our two guards through the castles halls.

"I have to ask, Ser Davos. Do you know how Prince Stannis managed to breach the castles defenses?" I questioned, and when he turned to glance at me and raised an eyebrow in question of his own I shrugged slightly and explained "Thanks to my previous position in the Kingsguard I'm more well versed in Dragonstones defenses than most, and I know that nothing would have broken through the palaces walls if the gates were closed and barred. Since he took it without prolonged siege, I was curious how he managed that feat."

He gave a nod "Ah, he did it the same way so many castles have fallen over the year - traitors on the inside. One of the knights who was supposedly loyal to the dragons cut a deal and lowered a rope from the Dragon's Maw and then the Prince himself led a force up the rope and took the castle from the inside."

'so Ser Barristan didn't give away any of the secret passages, I really must sit down and talk with him one of these days. Maybe when Robert is next at the Rock'

"And the dragons managed to sneak out during the fighting I'm guessing?" I repled.

"Yes my lord." was his short reply, clearly this was not a topic he was all that keen to discuss.

The rest of the walk passed in silence and minutes later I was being shown into the great hall, with Stannis sitting on the throne of dragonstone that emerged from the dais 'so he is Targaryen enough that it didn't incinerate him, I wonder what Robert would think about that if he realized'.

Stopping before him, I waited in silence as he inspected myself and Tyrion - our guards having stayed by the door. Eventually he said "Welcome to Dragonstone Lord Lannister, Heir Lannister."

Giving a slight bow I said "Thank you for the privilege Prince Stannis, and congratulations on capturing a fortress most have long considered impossible to capture."

"I merely did my duty." he said, his voice lacking anything but the barest trace of pride at his achievement, "Your letter said you wanted to discuss business with me?"

"Yes, Prince Stannis. House Lannister would like to establish an agreement with Dragonstone to purchase obsidian, dragonglass, in quantity." I said.

"Why? Dragonglass is worthless as anything but an ornamental decoration." was his blunt response.

"Yes, but I like the look and decided to make extensive use of it in the remodel of Casterly Rock that I have started. I simply love the way it catches the sunlight so I thought to have a number of hallways sheathed in it. I was thinking that fifty golden Stag's per ton seems a fair price? And I will purchase all that you are willing to sell." I answered, naming a price about fifteen percent above fair market price.

Stannis blinked, clearly surprised at both my stated reason for the purchase and at how much I was willing to pay him. Enough so that he said "You are willing to pay me fifty golden stags per ton, and take as much as I am willing to sell?"

I gave a firm nod "Yes, paid as it is loaded onto the ships at the dock. I'll even handle transportation."

He gave a sharp, firm, nod "Agreed. Maester Cressen will handle the details." he said, dismissal clear in his tone.

'not a man for small talk this one. maybe I should have Kevan handle dealing with him, Stannis is master of ships so the two will work together.'

I thought as I bowed again to the Prince and left with Tyrion, following the Maester to a side chamber to draw up the contract.

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