Hugh Hammer (ASOIF/SI)

 Addam looked up from where he was being attended to by a

 Maesters Acolyte, who was stitching a wound closed on his arm to

 see Lady Arryn and her entourage sweep into the courtyard, the

 Princess Rhaena was accompanying Lady Arryn.

 The Lady of the Eyrie looked as angry and hard faced as her guards,

 a mix of Arryn Men at Arms and Knights, all armed and armoured

 and some even still bearing the obvious signs of having just been in

 combat.

 Lady Arryn stopped before a seated Hugh, who was stripped to his

 smallclothes and had just been finished being cleaned off, his friend

 having been soaked in the blood and viscera of the traitors from the

 recent battle that had raged through out the Eyrie.

 A few scant hours ago Hugh had ordered him to quickly arm himself,

 Hugh having pulled on his brigandine and armed himself also, when

 men had burst into the courtyard to attack them. Thankfully the three

 dragons had reacted badly to this intrusion and had burned the

 attackers to a crisp. But by them the sounds of battle began reaching

 them and it was obvious that the treason that had been suspected in

 the Eyrie was breaking out into open revolt.

 Prince Joffrey had mounted Tyraxes and had proceeded to fly about

 the castle, dragonfire issuing from his mount's maw every now and

 then, burning men atop the battlements, which Addam had hoped

 were the rebels.

 Hugh had been livid at the Prince doing this and had dashed up onto

 the walls to communicate with the Prince, asking him to fly to the

 tower that held Lady Arryn to get some information on what was

 going on.

The Prince had reluctantly complied and flown off, which was when a

 group of rebels had set upon Hugh, he had dashed to aid Hugh and

 the two of them had just managed to kill or drive off their assailants,

 but not before both had been wounded, Hugh more seriously than

 him.

 "Are you badly hurt Ser Hugh?" asked Lady Arryn as one of the

 Acolytes busied himself with sewing closed a large gash along

 Hugh's hairline, only one of several cuts and gashes that would need

 to be sewn shut on Hugh's arms and legs.

 Hugh had insisted that the Acolyte boil any bandages and thread he

 was using on him first, a look of pleasant surprise crossing his face

 when the acolyte told him that they were and that they would be

 washing him off, and washing his wounds with a mixture of ten to

 one boiled water and vinegar.

 "Its just a flesh wound" Hugh grinned at Lady Arryn as the Acolyte

 moved onto another of his cuts that needed sewing shut.

 "Well anyway, it appears that your presence here finally forced my

 enemies to show their hand, though the idiots probably should have

 waited until the dragons of the Greens got here, but there is no

 accounting for stupidity I suppose. It also appears that some of those

 who I suspected were less than loyal decided that the presence of

 dragons strengthened their wavering loyalty, so in the end this little

 'rebellion' was put down easily enough."

 "At least that is good" replied Hugh as he winced through a wound

 being sewn up.

 "You will have a rather fetching set of scars to woo the ladies with"

 Lady Arryn gave a little tittered laugh at Hugh's discomfort, Addam

 noticing that Princess Rhaena was scowling the whole time.

 Hugh had scolded the Prince for his antics, but had softened his

 scolding by praising him for acting as a messenger to enable Lady

 Arryn to communicate with the rest of the castle during the battle.

She had been cut off in her tower by a strong assaulting force of

 rebels and Tyraxes had been instrumental in defeating the rebels.

 The small size of Tyraxes had allowed it to stick its head into

 windows and other openings and deliver dragonifre to either block

 strategic passageways or kill groups of rebels. Prince Joffrey had

 been immensely proud of his dragon after the battle and had been

 dismissive of Hugh's opinions and concerns regarding using Tyraxes

 in the upcoming potential battle with Vhagar and Tessarion.

 It was a shame Addam realized, the Prince was a good enough

 dragon rider and he could learn much from Hugh, but such was the

 way of things sometimes, the little Prince was too headstrong to

 listen to much in the way of advice it seemed.

 "Has there been any sign of the dragons of the Greens?" asked

 Hugh, turning to one side to let the Acolyte apply a salve and

 bandage to a large bruise across his lower back.

 "No, no more sightings of Vhagar or Tessarion I'm afraid" replied

 Lady Arryn.

 Hugh gave a little nod at this and said, "we will stay here for a while

 yet, they cannot know of the failed rebellion, so they are probably still

 coming on the basis of a 'friendly' Eyrie."

 "Mayhaps Ser Hugh, mayhaps indeed" came the rather annoyed

 reply from Lady Arryn, Addam wondering why the lady of the Eyrie

 was annoyed with Hugh's statement.

 After some more rather desultory conversation Lady Arryn and her

 party left Hugh to be patched up and when this was finished the

 former blacksmith stood up and did some experimental stretching,

 much to the horror and annoyance of the acolyte.

 Hugh put on some clothing that Addam had fetched for him, and he

 indicated with his head that he wanted to talk to him in private.

The two of them walked out into the courtyard, occupied by three

 dozing dragons, and Hugh took him up to near Vermithor's head,

 Addam sure that the noises the beast was making were snores.

 "I don't like this; can we be sure that all the rebels are put down?"

 asked Hugh, his voice low and angry sounding.

 "I don't know, we, we can only hope so I suppose."

 "Still….and where the fuck is Vhagar and Tessarion eh? They should

 be here by now, have we, outguessed ourselves here? Are those two

 dragons even coming here? Or are they back on the frontlines in the

 Reach, or have they attacked Kings Landing?"

 "We, we would hear of this Hugh, would we not?"

 "At several days or even a week's remove Addam, and likely too late

 for us to react…."

 "With, with the putting down of the rebellion against Lady Arryn we

 might be recalled to Kings Landing soon enough though…."

 "True…" replied High, seeming to be lost in his thoughts.

 "Prince Joffrey….was, was that wise of you?"

 "What, to tell off the little shit for going off 'half cocked'?" snarled

 Hugh.

 Addam ignored his friend's anger, and also ignored 'half cocked',

 putting it down to another of the strange speech mannerisms that

 Hugh was wont to use when stressed. "The Princes dragon Tyraxes

 did prove invaluable….."

 "It did, and that's the problem, Prince Joffrey will now think very

 highly of his dragon and its abilities. Unless we chain his ass in a

 dungeon and shoo Tyraxes off, both of them will get involved when

 Vhagar and Tessarion finally decide to rock up."

"That, that would not be good…."

 "Nope, a disaster, I fear. Tyraxes is too small and the Prince has not

 had the benefit of training in air to air combat, and he is the only

 remaining son of Queen Rhaenyra by Laenor Velaryon left alive, and

 the Crown Prince. If we lose him…"

 Addam said nothing in reply to this, until Hugh added, somewhat

 unnecessarily, "Then my friend, we are fucked…."

 Addam had the sudden and horrid thought that they had been sent

 to the Eyrie specifically to pin the blame for Prince Joffrey's death on

 them, and he shuddered at the thoughts of the rage of the Queen

 should this be the case. Had the Rogue Prince manipulated them

 into this position, was he counting on Joffrey's death and the easy

 blame that could be placed at heir feet. Well, at Hugh's feet, his

 grandfather would protect him, or at least he hoped he would.

 No, Hugh would be the offering to assuage the Queen's anger

 should Prince Joffrey die, and Addam felt a twinge of sorrow for the

 fate of his friend.