The End Of A Dynasty

Prologue

Jaime

A Kingsguard should not outlive the king he is serving. Ser Barristan the Bold told me so once. I'm sure he gladly would have faced an entire army if it was demanded of him, despite knowing it would never be enough. Even despite having to fight his own kin. How much it already had ashamed the old knight to be serving his second king, when he was supposed to die trying to save his first. I can only imagine what he must be thinking of me.

Not even two years after I had so willingly pledged my life to king Aerys II, the forces of a rebellion were on the brink of wiping out the reign of House Targaryen, a reign that had endured for centuries. The day the rebels' armies would arrive at King's Landing, I was the only Kingsguard left in the capital, so it fell to me to hold the Red Keep no matter the cost. When 10,000 heavily armored Lannister soldiers flooded through the gates of the capital, preying with ease on the remaining forces of the loyalists before moving on to the city's population, I figured that the cost would be high and the result indifferent. Wouldn't it have been a nice story, though: seventeen-year-old prodigy, youngest knight to join the Kingsguard of all times, dies heroically as the single defender of the Red Keep. My father would have adored it. If he wasn't so preoccupied with cursing my name until the end of his days for berobbing him of his beloved heritage. Still, with the king not willing to have it any other way, it was a fate I was almost willing to accept, for it was a great honor to die upholding a sacred vow. To die in the knowledge that my name would not disgrace the sacrifices of the knights whose names were enlisted in the White Book before mine. However, when the time came, I didn't go down fighting side by side with the pitiful remains of the loyalist forces in an impossible battle against my own House. I was alone at the time and heading for the king, instead.
The capital had descended into a state of chaos as the sounds of battle spread through the city like wildfire, and yet I found the Great Hall as silent as a crypt, towering above the slaughter in the streets. On other occasions, hundreds of people had filled the throne room, including dozens of guards to make the king feel safe. But with the city being overrun by enemies, the only witnesses happened to be the dragon heads looming above. They had always been the biggest pride of the royal family, and served as much more than mere decoration. The biggest of those monstrous skulls had the size of a carriage, and they were fletching their long, sharp teeth at anyone who dared to approach the Iron Throne. The throne itself had been forged with the help of dragon fire from the blades of Aegon the Conqueror's defeated enemies, and was just like the galery of dragon skulls supposed to inflict terror in whoever sets his eyes upon them. A purpose they fulfilled quite perfectly, for they had made even the brave Rickard Stark, late Lord of Winterfell, shudder at their sight. Or perhaps he was shuddering at the thought of being burned alive only moments later. I'm not quite sure. The screams, on the other hand, I will never forget. As I approached the dim heart of the dragon's cave, my white cloak of the Kingsguard already stained with blood, the memory of the Starks' fate resurfaced all too vividly. Coming back to this place to find the same unsettling silence filling the room made the memory appear so real that I could almost smell the scent of burned flesh in the air and hear the Mad King laughing as they screamed. But there was no fire, no spectators to stand by watching the gruesome execution. There was only the Mad King, pacing up and down the hall like a starving predator anticipating a feast. He even looked like one, with his long, untamed hair and clawlike fingernails. The fool had refused to let any knives near him for months. Except for the blades of his Kingsguard, of course. Even the ungreateful pack of a population later couldn't deny a certain irony in the affair. For all the blades Aerys desperately seaked to avoid, he completely ignored the ones he really should have been wary of: those of the family he had enjoyed so much to tease and play with.
At first, he didn't even seem to see me coming. He just continued his frantic walk, wide eyes darting back and forth. The words he kept murmuring to himself were hard to make out at first, but grew louder with every time he repeated them, until they resounded back from the high ceiling above. They only confirmed what I already knew.
"Burn them all," the Mad King said. "But them all!"
It was the sight of blood dripping from the blade in my right hand that suddenly brought his attention to me, his bloodshot eyes locking on me.
"Is that your father's blood?" he demanded, raising his voice. "I command you to bring me his head!" My eyes bored into his.
"This isn't Tywin's blood," I replied calmly. "It's Rossart's."
I watched his face change as he processed the news of his trusted pyromaster's death. In one final moment of astonishing clarity, he saw the look on my face and understood what it meant. His eyes wide with shock and even surprise, the miserable old man turned and ran, stumbling towards the Iron Throne as if hoping it would grant him some protection. My sword found his back before he even reached the top of the stairs. It was so easy, I thought as the king collapsed at my feet, gasping for air. I had expected a king to die harder than this. His blood was already running down the steps in scarlet rivers when he cawed out the words once more, as if in a last effort to see his command fulfilled.
"Burn them all. Burn them all."
I cut his throat to make sure nobody would ever hear. Then I watched how Aerys Targaryen, second of his name, King of the Andals and Protector of the Realm, died at the feet of the Iron Throne squealing like a pig.
With a single strike of my sword, I betrayed everything I had ever believed in: the worth of a king, the greatness in fighting for him, even honor itself. My act of high treason ended the greatest dynasty these lands had ever seen. A dynasty I had sworn to protect with my life.