The Winter Queen

Chapter 28

The youngest Starks were a month old before their mother was finally strong and well enough to go pick out their dragon eggs. Alessa-Visenya was given a charcoal gray egg, Ingrid-Jyaenna was given a silvery violet egg, Aislinn-Daelys a silvery pink egg and Inigo-Drogon a steely blue gray egg. Within a week, all four eggs hatched. Alessa’s egg hatched a dragon that looked like a dark gray version of the Black Dread but with golden eyes. Ingrid’s a dragon was a light silvery violet color who resembled Caraxes. Aislinn’s dragon was  pale pink and orange with just a touch of silver, looking like some of the colors of sunrise and lastly, Inigo’s dragon was a dark charcoal gray color mixed with a midnight blue.

While the Starks weren’t exactly thrilled at the thought of having more dragons in their Keep, they also realized that the dragons would help protect their most vulnerable members as the hatchlings stayed in their future rider’s cradles with them. Nevertheless, having actual dragons around was still an unfamiliar concept for the House of the Wolf but they were slowly acclimating to it.

A few weeks later, while the family was sitting down to a meal, an urgent Raven was received from the Castle Black. The letter detailed how a very large black dragon had come out of nowhere from the South and had flown over the Wall, something no other dragon had done in recorded history. After it had flown over the Wall, it all but disappeared for several days. Then, just as they figured that it had flown over the Wall to die, it reappeared at Castle Black and this time it was not alone. It carried in its talons the frozen solid form of another dragon, but one whose shape and color was different from the far larger Southern Dragon. The dark dragon was, at the time of the Raven, staying near Castle Black.

Upon Rickon reaching the end of the letter, which he had been reading out loud, Rhaenrya spoke up, “The dragon they speak of. I’ve heard of it. It's a wild dragon that nests at Dragonstone. It is known as the Cannibal as it is known for eating dragon eggs and hatchlings however, this is unusual behavior for it to come so very far North. I wonder…”

Cregan then touched his wife’s hand when she trailed off, “What do you wonder?”

She then turned to speak directly to him, “The Gods told me that  I would waken the long slumbering Ice Dragons. What if the dragon Cannibal fetched from North of the Wall is a sleeping Ice Dragon?”

Before she could fully finish her thought, the thundering roar of a dragon nearly shook Winterfell which caused the Starks to run outside where Cannibal was clearly flying towards them. Shortly thereafter, he landed with the other dragon in his talons in Winterfell’s main courtyard, scaring the staff badly. However, Rhaenyra was not afraid even as the monstrous dragon stared straight at her, while he released that which he carried and pushed it slowly toward her.

Rhaenyra walked towards the large dragon slowly even as she began speaking in her mother tongue, “Did the Gods send you to fetch me an ice dragon, big boy?”

Cannibal gave a nod before lowering his head down toward her. Once Rhaenyra was close enough to him, she gently placed her palm on his snout.

“Thank you Cannibal, for the gift, and for being a messenger from the Gods. My Golden Lady Syrax nests near here and you may be able to ply her with affection so that she may share, if you desire.”

Cannibal then nodded under her hand, seeming to almost preen under her affection, before standing up and gently nudging the Princess towards the frozen dragon.

Laughing, Rhaenyra moved towards the other dragon as Cannibal seemed to wish for her to do even as she spoke, “Okay! Okay! I know! It's my destiny to waken the ice dragons. But how…?”

A mind brushed hers and filled her mind with images, letting her know precisely what to do.

“Thank you Big Boy!” she said to Cannibal.

Then she walked up to the ice encased dragon, removed her gloves and then touched the ice with her bare hands. She focused her thoughts on the warmth of love, the feelings Cregan aroused in her, her love of her Ladies, stepchildren, her mother, Uncle, and cousins, the affection Rickon showed her and the fiery protective love she felt towards her children.

The ice then seemed to glow with an otherworldly light before it cracked and then shattered, sending a large blast of powdery snow and ice crystals through the air, blinding everyone for a brief moment. When the air cleared, a dragon double the size of a large horse who resembled Syrax in build but was silver in color with large amethyst colored eyes stood proudly. Within moments of it being released from the ice, it began to prance about the Princess like an excited filly causing her to laugh. It then licked her face making her giggle like the girl she was.

“Cregan! Rickon! Alys! Benjen! Come here! Come meet Skadi!”

Cregan could not help but notice just how young his wife looked in that moment even as he shared a look with his father and then slowly guided his elder children over to where Skadi was still bouncing around. However, before they managed to fully cross the space, both Khione and Belenus, the two direwolf pups, appeared out of nowhere and ran straight up to Skadi and the three began to bounce around each other and lick each other excitedly.

“Well, if the direwolves are not scared of this dragon, then neither should we,” Rickon declared even as he smiled wide and began approaching a bit quicker with his grandchildren following in amazement.

Cregan could not help but agree with his father’s assessment as this new, foreign and potentially very ancient dragon was quite clearly a creature of the North just as the Direwolves were and the Starks themselves were.

Quite quickly thereafter, the family was being greeted by the very excitable Skadi who, upon licking Rickon’s and Cregan’s faces, felt like at least five years had been shaved off of their ages, making them younger, though only time would tell if that was true.