Dragon Dreamer 🗡 Cregan Stark

Chapter Sixteen

Daenys and Cregan began their hunt with the supplies available in Rook's Rest. Kalla was kind enough to guide them to guest rooms, weapon storage, and even the vaults. Though Daenys had no current need for coin, she was grateful for the trust Kalla had given her in such little time.

"The Princess of Dragons" was an affectionate name given to her by Kalla and Kallus, who regailed her 'taming' of Sunfyre with wide eyes. Though they only heard of it initially from the soldiers, they watched on in awe as the dragon that had been keeping them indoors for days was now bowing his lean head to the Princess.

She kindly accepted the moniker, knowing that non-Valyrion blooded folk did not understand the kinship that Valyrions had with dragons. Bonded or not. Though, the wary look that Cregan stared at the golden dragon with did amuse her.

She expected the ship and small crew to arrive by the next daylight. With the raven reaching Rhaenyra and the Queen sending word to a trusted captain, preparations had to be made from there to transport a dragon. None had done such a feat, with dragons notoriously being independent. Daenys had not recalled a single dragon in her family's history that had become handicapped in its time. Most dragons sustaining battle injuries perished. She was glad Sunfyre was an outlier—Aegon's dragon or not.

Wielding only a spear, Daenys shrugged off the suggestion of traps from Cregan. "Sunfyre wouldn't taste a rabbit or squirrel if we fed it to him. It's the equivalent to crumbs for us."

Cregan huffed good-naturedly. "Spoiled things, dragons are.”

"We are royalty, Lord Stark." She mused with a sidewards glance to him as they shared a smile.

"So what does a Prince's dragon eat?" He mumbled half to himself, eyes scanning with all the vigilance of a weathered wolf.

"Goat, cattle, deer." She shrugged. They all had different preferences when being fed by the dragonkeepers. Syrax preferred sheep and cattle, Vermax liked harder to kill prey like stags, and not to mention Caraxes who exclusively hunted wild for himself. Daenys considered herself lucky that Morningstar was not so picky, especially when the North and South held different types of meals. Having to leave her behind after her marriage seemed like a fate worse than death. "Last I saw in King's Landing, Sunfyre liked smaller animals. He has quite the narrow snout."

"Looks more a snake than a dragon." Cregan commented. Daenys shot an amused glance at him, thinking to herself that he was a little right.

"You've gotten comfortable around them.”

"Dragons?" He asked, huffing.

She hummed acknowledgment.

"One could never grow comfortable with enemy forces. Who knows if the usurper's dragon will be submissive for so long? I've simply gotten used to the sight, 'tis all.”

"You won't be saying that when you see Vhagar. She's another league of her own." Daenys frowned. How unfair it was, that a dragon as ancient and war-torn as Vhagar got to live nearly two hundred years and none of her kin got the same. It would have been a mercy for the beast to rest with Balerion and Meraxes. Balerion died of what the dragonkeepers suspected was old age, not too long after Viserys got to claim him as his dragon. Vhagar lived to this day nearly fifty years later, still fighting and flying while she was so close to the Black Dread's age.

Now, the old queen would be resigned to fight until she died, like her sister Meraxes. An ironic fate, to be sure. The Targaryen men always seemed to have it easier, in the end.

"I'd like to hope I never see Vhagar in my lifetime.”

Daenys looked to the skies for a moment. The clear blue spotted by fluffy white clouds was almost disrespectful to the ongoing war. In all the history texts she read, the weather was never mentioned. Why should such insignificant things be given space on the precious pages? Yet she always imagined stormy grey skies and unruly waves scouring the entire ocean during times of war and death. Living it was an entirely different thing than imagining it. The world went on as normal, like nothing had changed within the realm.