-Chapter 181-
-Chapter 181-
-5th day of the 11th moon of the year 300 AC-
-POV Dorian/Commander of the Fourth Legion-
"Commander, the murmurs of discontent among the lords are growing louder, and some rumors suggest that certain lords are behind the recent bandit attacks," said my first lieutenant, Renold.
"Those useless wine sacks talk about honor all day but are the first to flee or finance bandits. It's been over three moons since the attacks started, and now they all play blind and even try to trip me up now that I've found the bastion of these dogs," I said, pounding my fist on the table.
"Commander, we can no longer keep this information to ourselves. We must inform the Emperor," said Renold.
"So they can all call me incompetent and make me the laughingstock of all the imperial troops? Never! I'd rather die," I said, shaking my head at this stupid idea.
I added, "Prince Viserys has been entrusted with two Legions, the same for Walton. Not to mention Tristan, who was even knighted thanks to his efficiency. What will people say about me if I go crying to the Emperor because of some damn bandits?"
Renold lowered his head and said nothing. Then I said, convinced that informing the Emperor before resolving the situation would be the biggest mistake of my military career:
"The Emperor gave me an entire legion to control the Stormlands. I can't fail when he managed to conquer the entire continent with the same number."
"Commander, I think that..." Renold tried to say before I cut him off, silencing him with, "Enough! They clearly haven't understood who commands yet, but they'll soon find out."
These fools haven't seen the transformation of His Majesty's dragon, but I saw it the last time I went to the capital. The beast had grown so much that it could easily swallow humans.
'If they had all witnessed what I have, they would never dare even breathe in the wrong direction in his presence,' I thought.
"If the unrest escalates, the Emperor will revoke your command of the Legion."
"That's impossible. I'm one of his first loyalists. I fought for him, shed the blood of his enemies as well as my own to place him on the throne. I am an imperial knight."
DRAGON ROAR
DRAGON ROAR
My heart skipped a beat, and I ran to the window, only to see two dragons flying above Storm's End.
'I'm in deep shit.'
"Commander..."
"Gather all the officers in the courtyard. We must welcome the Emperor properly. I don't want to see any sluggards, or they will be whipped publicly as punishment," I said before fastening my weapon belt and running with my helmet in hand to the courtyard where the Emperor was landing with a dragon I had never seen before.
---
-POV Daenerys Targaryen-
I watched Aegon descend from his dragon with ease, like a cat jumping from a height that would break the ankles of most men, before making me levitate towards him. I appreciated the gesture and took his arm as he offered it.
'We've gotten along quite well, except for what he did to Missandei. So far, he's been quite proper,' I thought, wondering if it was all an act or his true personality.
We hadn't taken two steps into the castle before we were surrounded by hundreds, if not over a thousand men, nearly all in armor. The officers formed a block and came to meet us, then knelt and shouted as they drew their swords and planted them in the ground before us:
"Long live the Emperor!!!"
Almost immediately after, the soldiers around us roared in unison:
"LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR!!!"
Aegon looked at me with a small, mocking smile, then said to the man in charge of the garrison, "Let them all return to their duties. You and I have things to discuss."
A flash of fear passed in the man's eyes before he gave orders to the other officers and signaled for us to follow him, accompanied by his second-in-command.
I could sense something unsettling in the air but didn't know what was actually happening, so I continued to observe everyone and began to understand that this wasn't a simple courtesy visit.
When we arrived in the Great Hall, we found the servants running around to change the tables and bring refreshments, but Aegon didn't seem interested in these artifices as he shouted, "LEAVE US."
Frightened, the servants practically scrambled to leave as quickly as possible to avoid facing and becoming the target of the Dragon's wrath. Then Aegon sat on the main seat after helping me into the seat to his right.
The man who was the commander of the garrison immediately knelt without saying a word, seeing the look in my... fiancé's eyes.
"I've heard a lot of bad things about you from my little birds," Aegon said, maintaining silent pressure on the poor man whose heart could give out at any moment.
'He's sweating with fear,' I noticed, seeing the man remain silent but still staring at the ground.
"You can thank your deputy for sending a letter to inform me of this situation, because if it had escalated, you would have been severely punished, you can believe that."
Instead of being grateful, I saw a flash of anger directed at his deputy kneeling beside him, and then the latter said, "Your Majesty, the commander didn't want to inform you of what was happening on your lands because he didn't want to disappoint you."
Aegon said nothing and then asked the still-kneeling commander, "What exactly happened?"
"After the war, when you entrusted me with the task of managing the southern part of your domain, I did everything necessary to bring the lords still weakened by the last war to heel. Aside from a few lords like the Bucklers, the Dondarrions, the Conningtons, and the Swanns, the rest of the Stormlands Houses all suffered significant losses."
"Throughout your rise to power and the formation of the empire, although some joined the usurper Aegon Blackfyre, they did nothing to displease you. But for the past few moons, some have decided to bear the banner of the last Baratheons."
"Publicly?" Aegon asked, raising a surprised eyebrow.
The kneeling man shook his head and said, "At first, it was just words around a table or rumors spread by certain knights in well-known taverns, but eventually the common folk started relaying these words to the point that bands of bandits formed."
"These are exclusively cavalrymen suspected of being former knights, and they often raid my men on the lands of the Fells, the Bucklers, the Morrigens, the Wyldes, and the Grandisons. How many Stormlands houses do you think are associated with these traitors?"
"I don't know, but..."
"It doesn't matter. I'll personally express my disdain for these little tricks to the concerned lords," Aegon said, but I placed a hand on his arm before asking:
"What does the common folk think about all this?"
The man hesitated to answer me and turned his head to Aegon before replying, seeing my fiancé's nod, which irritated me more than I would have thought.
'I had to get used to my position as queen, sole and unique ruler.'
"They reject the presence of the Legion and see us as invaders come to subdue them. They also resent the fact that you abolished the Stormlands to make these lands the Imperial Domain," he said before lowering his head.
Aegon frowned and said, "Why?"
"All the peoples of the empire were born on a land, whether in the North, the Stormlands, or elsewhere. Taking that away from them is at least disappointing," I said, understanding directly what was wrong.
Aegon turned his gaze to me, slightly annoyed, and said, "These people are so stupid. They're ready to support the lords who keep them in poverty because of a simple name."
"I've seen this happen many times in the Bay of Dragons. The former slaves are so ingrained in their old beliefs and habits that they sometimes wanted to return to their masters to become slaves again."
"It's so idiotic."
"They've been domesticated and know nothing else. Using force with the dragons..."
"I know, it will calm them but won't make them docile forever. It will only smother the resentment they feel before it explodes if I don't find a lasting solution."
Aegon thought for a few seconds before giving his directives: "Dorian, invite all the lords for a feast in their honor. I want to see them all in a fortnight. In the meantime, I want you to prepare everything and recall all the men you have deployed in the Stormlands."
"Very well, Your Majesty. Everything will be done as you wish," said the man now identified as Dorian.
I watched the two men walk away, noting the satisfied look of Dorian's second-in-command.
'He looks like Viserys when he's proud of something, one of his stupidities.'
---
-POV Dorian/Commander of the Fourth Legion-
Leaving the Great Hall, leaving the Emperor and the woman I imagined to be Daenerys Targaryen, I went immediately to my office.
"You dared to send a message to the Emperor BEHIND MY BACK," I said, grabbing Renold's neck and pinning him against my office door as soon as he closed it.
He tried to explain, but I squeezed harder and said:
"You weren't authorized to do that. You should have asked my permission first. In fact, you did, but I remember giving you MY FUCKING ANSWER."
"I... did it for you," he said, trying to speak through the vice around his neck, which tightened as I
pressed his throat with my hands.
"For me?! I almost lost everything!!! My life, my rank, and you dare say you did it all for me?" I said loudly, marking my boiling anger towards him.
He almost passed out, so I loosened my grip on his throat. He collapsed to the floor, coughing hard, then once he caught his breath, he said:
"But it didn't happen. On the other hand, if you had attacked, you would have simply dug our grave and ruined our careers, our reputations, as well as the Emperor's. I averted a catastrophe by fulfilling your duty, and I also saved your life. You should thank me."
I raised my eyebrows at his tone, and just as I was about to punch him in the face, he said:
"If you punish me for doing my duty, to make an example of me, the Emperor will do the same to you and punish you as well for not doing your duty. In this case, you could lose your post, your title of imperial knight, and your life."
Shocked by his change of expression and tone, I stood speechless until he left my office.
I began to understand that the loyal image he had portrayed since he had been in my service had only one purpose:
'To get close enough to stab me in the back and take my place.'