Fire And Blood

The Voices Of The Lost

Aegon XVII

"May they burn on Dragonstone!"

Aegon narrowed his eyes. His breathing was heavy and his knuckles around Long Memory turned white.

May they burn on Dragonstone? he wondered with suspicion. Just who or what is speaking, I wonder?

"The souls of the damned be speaking, I reckon," Yharnam whispered, gripping the haft of his battleaxe with both of his hands.

He almost had to laugh despite himself. He doubted that Yharnam's words rang true and yet, unwittingly, his unasked question had been given an answer.

Then, a sharp, short and impossibly loud roar, coming from somewhere nearby and sounding more like thunderclap than anything else, made his ears ring. He and everyone on deck visibly flinched and covered the sides of their heads.

"Curse them!"

"Maera, stay there!" Aegon yelled at his curious and mad cousin, who was almost eagerly awaiting what was going to come next. She appeared ready and prepared with more paper and charcoal by the stairs leading below decks.

"Don't worry, I'm not suicidal!" she replied.

He had to refrain from shooting her an incredulous look considering her refusal to get down to safety.

The deep, throaty growling of an animal became audible and seemed to grow louder with every passing second. He straightened and shook his head, the ringing in his ears now incessant. The beast was audibly panting, pebbles and stone were moving, rolling and dropping into the waters.

"There!" a young sellsword from the Wolf Pack shouted.

Aegon followed his finger. He was pointing towards a slope leading down the high cliffs of their starboard side, from the tip of the peninsula which was now little more than a collection of small islets. There, he could make out the rapid movements of a slender animal; a large cat, easily the size of himself. It had a long, graceful tail, which, now that it was even closer, appeared to be tipped with a stinger.

At the sight of it, their dragons grew restless again, snarling and hissing at the creature.

"Is it this thing speaking?" Prince Oberyn muttered with narrowed eyes, dressed in his armour now and armed with his spear.

While the winged beast atop the cliffs – which was now gone – had stalked them patiently and almost carefully, this creature was not waiting. With leaps and impossible agility, it charged down slopes, jumped from rock to rock, and leapt across gorges, narrow and wide as if they weren't even there. And the closer it approached them, the more Aegon could discern.

This beast bore the head of a lion sans its mane, with sickly green eyes that almost glowed as daylight began to wane. It was snarling at them, lips curled and brandishing wicked teeth long and sharp enough to easily pierce through the skull of a grown man. Instead of a furred coat, there seemed to be pieces or layers of some kind of shell covering its back and flanks, gleaming a bright red under the setting sun. The grooves in between the armour revealed a hint of flesh, the plate of shells almost moving fluidly in motion as it ran in a hypnotizing manner. Its long and narrow tail was covered completely in that segmented shell, which he could now confirm to be tipped off with a wicked and barbed stinger indeed – a very large scorpion's stinger. The legs were a grotesque combination of that of a large cat and a scorpion; long and spindly, protected in that same shell-like steel plate, ending in pairs of curved black claws that twisted and turned like an insect's, only large and strong enough to carry it.

It was vile.

It was fast.

Jadewing, Arrax and Sundancer flapped their wings and took flight as the beast advanced ever closer to their ship, now tirelessly sprinting after them on the rocky shore. Jadewing screeched and dove towards it, barely dodging the sudden whip of its stinger and then breathing down a burst of fire, the large, bright and brilliant green spots in her flames evidence of her growth. She bathed the creature in her dragonfire, earning herself a loud hiss and growl. The beast visibly tumbled about on the ground, its shell slightly singed with smoke but otherwise unharmed. It was quickly putting out any small flames which had remained, only to have Arrax and Sundancer expel their flames at it as well.