Rivers of Fire and Blood

Sam VII

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Ice and Fire Novels, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon TV shows. However, I decided to have a little play around with the characters. I do not earn any money from writing these stories, it is for my entertainment and is something I like to share.

Sam had been on Dragonstone for almost a month. When he first arrived and saw Maester Gerardys quarters, he expected his mission to be quick. After all most of the books on the shelves he was already familiar with, and there was nothing new for him to learn, or so he thought. The only problem was the Maester had taken to putting notes into his books, every single one of the eight hundred and forty two he'd gone through so far contained detailed notes, and he wasn't even halfway through. It wouldn't have been so difficult if it wasn't for Maester Gerardys having written not only complex, but random notes which made no sense, unless you began to break down the context. For instance a basic mixture for milk of the poppy led to notes on the various known poppy species over Westeros and Essos, their appearance and uses, and how to make the different poisons or medicines with each variety. He had read more about alternate uses for varying medicines since his arrival, than he did throughout the entirety of his Maester training. However, as fascinating as all of this was, he knew this was not what Bran had sent him here for. Sam had always suspected Bran wanted dragons, or more specifically, dragon eggs, even though the King had never mentioned anything about it. This fact was confirmed when he accidentally overheard a conversation between his two guards Aelon and Jaemon, who in truth were his gaolers. Sam's job was to find the locations of where the eggs were laid on Dragonstone to see if there were any which had gone unnoticed over the generations. They urgency which they were wanting to get a move on to search the island for the eggs worried Sam, and they were constantly complaining about Sam taking his time. Therefore Sam knew, as much as it hurt him, he needed to delay the discovery even longer as he didn't want Bran to get his hands on dragons, until he knew what Bran wanted to do with them. The downside to him taking his time was that Gilly was due in around two moons time and Sam didn't want to miss the birth of his babe, he also hated being away from his family. In the last two moons he'd spent less than a week with them, his heart hurt.

Therefore when he found a book, or to be more specific a written account by Prince Daemon Targaryen describing the locations of where he'd found dragon eggs on Dragonstone, Sam was torn as to what to do. If he let Bran have the dragon eggs, it could lead to a war which could envelop the entire continent, but to his sadness, he was beginning to suspect that it was inevitable. He knew he was being spied on, so sending a raven to warn Jon and Sansa would be intercepted, and a delay wouldn't make much of a difference, and he would be caught out if he pretended he hadn't read it as Jaemon and Aelon were going through the books after he'd read them to double check he wasn't lying. This also concerned Sam as by the end of all of this, they'd qualified enough to collect a maesters chain. The maesters didn't like people knowing too much, it gave them power they would abuse, he had been told at the Citadel, although Sam couldn't see why at the time, now he was beginning to wonder if they had a point, because Jaemon and Aelon were definitely the wrong hands for such sensitive poison making information. Which was why, as he settled into reading the life of Daemon Targaryen, or more specifically during the reign of his brother King Viserys, when he was searching for eggs on Dragonstone, Sam decided it was better to come clean and tell his gaolers what he'd found.

Sam entered the solar near the Master's Chambers which Jaemon and Aelon had been inhabiting during their stay. Jaemon was sat with his feet on the table, ankles crossed with a book in his hand, while Aelon was eating an apple.

"I think I might have found something." Sam said excitedly, although he didn't feel very excited, but he knew he had to act ignorant.

"What?" Aelon raised an eyebrow, his mouth full.