Fire and Ink

How to start a War

Meraxes clung to the spines on Thorn's back. Now that their father was dead, Meraxes had to run from her older Brother, Maleron.
With her was Skydancer, the dragon that had once been ridden by her sister, Elaena Targaryen.
Now that Elaena was gone, Skydancer was all Meraxes had left of her sister.
Both dragons circled the bay, and Meraxes scanned the forest below for a place to land.
Off to her right, Skydancer screamed suddenly, and Thorn roared in alarm. 
Startled by the cry, Meraxes looked over at her sister's dragon.
She had a bolt sticking out of her underbelly.
"Skydancer!" Meraxes cried, bringing Thorn around to help the other dragon.
Meraxes screamed as a second bolt impaled the already dying dragon through the neck, and watched helplessly as she plummeted from the sky, and into the forest below. The bolt had come from the bay, and Meraxes looked around frantically, searching for the source of the bolt.
She found it in one of her brother's  warships.
Fear for Thorn's life tempered the violent rage boiling in her blood, and Meraxes steered her dragon down into the forest.
Thorn landed next to Skydancer's corpse. Meraxes dismounted, tears slipping down her face. Thorn nudged the other dragon's wing, as if telling her to get up and fly.
"I know." Meraxes whispered as Thorn whined.
She'd always had fire inside her, and every loss she suffered, every time Maleron wronged her, the fire grew a little bit hotter, a little bit more out of control.
Skydancer's death had caused it to give in to an inferno.
If Maleron wants a war, I'll give it to him. Meraxes thought fiercely. She knelt by the head of the broken dragon.
"He will pay for what he did to you." She murmured.

Meraxes joined the soldiers who had chosen her over Maleron.
Nyla, Meraxes' dear friend, and most trusted adviser, scanned the sky.
"Skydancer?" The young woman asked.
Meraxes shook her head. "Maleron." was all she said, was all she needed to say.
Nyla sighed and rested her hand on the the other woman's shoulder.
"How do we proceed, Your Majesty?"
"We go to Dragon's Teeth, the old fortress, and we use that as our castle."
"And if it is occupied, your Grace?"
"We take it back." Meraxes said fiercely. "We need a Stronghold."
Nyla nodded in agreement, and then stepped over to a chest in one of the wagons. From it, she withdrew a golden crown in the shape of  two dragons. Nyla placed it on Meraxes head.
Meraxes turned to her men as Nyla stood beside her.
Behind them, Thorn roared.
"Behold, Queen Meraxes of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, Princess of Dragon's Teeth, rightful Queen of Westeros, and Protector of the Realm."
"Long may She Reign." Her soldiers called, and knelt.
I am a Queen now. Meraxes though, strangely detached. She would have felt much more triumphant had Skydancer survived.
I am a Queen, and I'm going to war against my brother, the King.
Meraxes felt an odd twist in her stomach. The Dance of the Dragons is happening again.
While Meraxes and Maleron were not the only Targaryens with dragons, their dragons were the only ones large enough to ride into war.
Maleron's own dragon, Jerythiak was older and larger than Thorn, but Meraxes knew that Thorn would not shy away from a fight.
The Second Dance had already begun.