Hugh Hammer (ASOIF/SI)

Sitting atop the Iron Throne he watched as the men approached him,

 tiny at first as they entered the long gallery of the throne room, to

 stand and then kneel before the great pile of twisted, melted swords

 that Aegon the Conqueror had created.

 It was he knew a potent symbol of the power of his house, this

 monstrosity of dragonfire forged steel, and to sit atop it was what he

 had always desired, above all else. Oh, he sat upon it now, but not in

 his own right, only as Lord Protector of the Realm, but soon he

 would sit here as Regent for his son Aegon.

 He put these thoughts aside as the men drew up before the Iron

 Throne and he concentrated on the necessary mummery of the

 court.

 He announced over the kneeling forms "arise Ser Addam and Ser

 Hugh, the Iron Throne welcomes you back to Kings Landing and

 begs you report."

 Daemon knew what the men would say, having already received

 ravens and having met the pair in the Dragonpit, this performance

 here was all just for show and display, and for other reasons.

 "We have returned form the Eyrie your Grace, the dragons of the

 pretender were driven off, the Eyrie was damaged in the battle. I beg

 the forgiveness of her Grace the Queen for the death of her son

 Prince Joffrey Velaryon, he fell in the defense of the Eyrie"

 announced Ser Addam, his voice surprisingly clear and steady for a

 lad of such tender years to be addressing the court with such news.

 Daemon judged the great, echoing room, noting who reacted and

 who did not, and thus who had spies of sufficient skill and access to

be already aware of Joffrey's death.

 "The Iron Throne grieves for the loss of Prince Joffrey, his mother,

 her Grace Queen Rhaenyra, first of her name, is indisposed,

 mourning the death of her third son in this terrible, senseless war.

 Ser Hugh, recount to all what happened during the battle of the

 Eyrie!"

 He watched the former smallfolk take a deep breath before he

 started "Your Grace, my Lords and Ladies, the Eyrie was beset with

 traitors and turncloaks, who rose in defiance of their Lady's rule and

 wishes, desiring to throw their lot in with the Pretenders. Prince

 Joffrey fought bravely and valiantly in the battle to put down these

 curs, and he desired to be part of the defense of the Eyrie from the

 dragons of Princes Aemond and Daeron."

 "You did not want to Prince to partake in this defence, did you Ser

 Hugh?" Daemon asked, delighted by the sour look that flashed

 briefly across Ser Hugh's face.

 "No, my Lord Protector, Tyraxes was too small to join a fight with

 Vhagar and Tessarion effectively, I thought it better if the Prince

 refrained from joining the fray. He was much more valuable to the

 realm than either Ser Addam or I, our deaths would have been trivial

 compared to the death of Prince Joffrey."

 "But Prince Joffrey joined the fight anyway, did he not?" asked

 Daemon, savoring the way Hugh seemed to squirm under his gaze

 and his questioning. But still, the lad was playing his part well, again

 for someone who he expected would have had little experience with

 these types of situations.

 "Aye your Grace, the Prince joined the fight, he fought well, he was

 even vital in bringing down Tessarion, but in the end he died,

 Vhagar's strength and fires were too much for us. Both Vermithor

 and Seasmoke took wounds in the battle, and the Eyrie has lost

 much of its south facing walls and towers to Vhagar's flames."

"And his body Ser Addam, have you recovered the Princes body?"

 "Aye your Grace, it was found with his dragon, as they flew in life, so

 they were united in death" replied the former bastard Velaryon, a

 lump obviously forming in his throat. Daemon had to resist smiling,

 the finest mummery indeed! For Joffrey's body had been found

 almost a mile from the corpse of his dragon, burned to a crisp and

 burst open from its impact with the ground. His remains were to be

 burned this very evening in the Red Keep, but still within the shroud

 that had covered his corpse.

 A pity it had not been Aemond and Vhagar that had been killed, he

 would have even swapped Hugh or Addam, hell's even both for

 bringing down that bastard, but never mind, his get would sit atop the

 Iron Throne and not that of Harwin Strong. As it was meant to be, as

 it should have been in the first place. He should have killed Viserys

 decades ago and not left any of this to chance, but he had been to

 callow to kinslay in his youth. Hah! Callow eh? No, he was never

 callow, just reluctant to remove Viserys without a fool proof plan.

 Seeding Visery's daughter was a very long second best, especially

 after she had already been married and pupped several times, but

 he would take what the Gods offered and run with it as far as he

 could.

 "Please, Ser Addam, Ser Hugh, no reproach of your actions is

 intended or will be forthcoming, you defended the Eyrie and killed a

 dragon of the Pretender, driving off a much larger and more

 dangerous dragon in the process. Let it be noted that the Iron

 Throne praises Ser Addam and Ser Hugh for their actions!"

 There was a bit more business after that, Addam gave a more

 detailed account of the rebellion and the fates of the Lords involved,

 and that his daughter Rhaena was safe and well. Hugh added what

 injuries they had inflicted on Vhagar, that had forced the great beast

 to retreat with its rider, and a slightly more detailed account of the

 battle with Vhagar. Again, this retelling by Hugh was not the full truth,

 but it was plausible enough to satiate the court, without revealing

 anything of true import.

No mention was made of course of the injuries sustained by

 Vermithor or Seasmoke, though in truth they were thankfully light.

 But Daemon reminded himself again that he would have traded

 these two dragons for Vhagar, and added Prince Joffrey to the total

 gladly if that angry old bitch that Aemond rode could have been

 brought down. Anyways, that was for another time, with the Vale

 even more secure and with the Greens down to a single dragon and

 its rider, he could now concentrate on bringing this war to its

 conclusion.

 Court was soon dismissed for the day, and he descended from the

 Iron Throne, retreating to what was the Kings Solar to attend to his

 work for the rest of the day, and to plan on eliminating all obstacles

 to his power, be they friend or foe. And how should he proceed on

 that matter? A quick, decisive blow, eliminating as many as possible

 in one, fell swoop? Or a slow, stealthy plan, so as not to startle the

 game?

 An interesting conundrum indeed, but one that was sure to occupy

 much of his time, and pleasantly at that, for was not the plotting of

 one enemy's downfall not almost as pleasurable as spending one's

 seed inside the entrances to a woman's body? Preferably the

 maiden daughter of an enemy, or his wife.

 And speaking of wife's, why his dearest wife would have to be

 dispatched soon to the halls of the Stranger, for the poor thing was

 so distraught at losing her sons by Harwin Strong, and so fragile,

 why might not a stiff breeze might blow her away at any moment?

 Terms for surrender had been sent out to the Greens, terms he was

 sure that they would reject, terms he had made sure they would

 reject. And once they were rejected then the value of the hostages in

 Kings Landing was what? A few groats mayhaps? A wicked, wicked

 thought seeped into his mind, Alicent and her daughter might be

 worth quite a bit more than a few groats, in fact they might be quite

 valuable, at least for a while. He chuckled to himself, for who would

 not want to pay for the chance to fuck a Queen and a former Queen?

 He pondered the prices that could be charged, high so that only

nobles would avail themselves of the offer, or low to encourage the

 smallfolk? And would he not avail himself first of their cunts? Of

 course he would, mayhaps both or one, and if he had to choose he

 would take sweet Helaena, even though the chit was mad. He would

 make her mother watch though, yes he would force Alicent to watch

 him fuck her daughter.

 He pondered again the price for the honor of fucking two Queens…..

 low, yes low, the thoughts of Alicent and her daughter getting ruined

 by an endless tide of smallfolk seed made him almost laugh

 hysterically and threatened to make his manhood rise to a rather

 painful stand.

 Speaking of manhood's, he would personally remove Lord Otto

 Hightower's cock, all the while describing to him how he had

 deflowered his daughter, and of how his daughter and

 granddaughter were being used as whores in Fleabottom. The rest

 of the then he would feed to The Blood Wyrm, who had not gorged

 on human flesh for quite a while. It was always good to keep

 dragons acquainted with the taste of human flesh, at least to his

 mind.

 There was a list of others whom he would see dead, those who had

 slighted and belittled him down the years, if he was feeling merciful,

 he might allow them to take the Black, among this list there were a

 few with wives that were still succulent enough to tempt him, and

 more than a few daughters ripe for the plucking. Yes, he was going

 to enjoy himself greatly while he sat as Regent for his son Aegon.

 He would have to see to the lad's education though, and his dragon

 riding, the lad's beast Stormcloud was as yet small and not really

 ready to accept a rider. Ser Hugh was a good trainer to all accounts,

 he would entrust Aegon's dragon riding training to Ser Hugh.

 Dusk was falling as he left his Solar for his private dining room and

 an event he had been long looking forwards to, finding Ser Hugh,

 Ser Addam and a large contingent of his personal guards present. A

lavish feast was set, and Daemon bid them sit, drinking wine in a

 rather strained silence.

 Ulf was escorted in by a coterie of his guards, and the lads face was

 a heady mix of false bravado and anger, underlain with a delicious,

 furtive look of sheer terror.

 "Ah, Ulf, good of you to join us! You were not thinking of leaving us

 were you now?" Daemon asked, a smile splitting his face until his

 cheeks hurt, yes disposing of this traitorous little cunt would be a

 pleasurable starter for this meal. Even though Hugh had informed

 him long ago of a 'dragon dream' about Ulf being a traitor he had

 known that Ulf would be a problem that needed dealing with. And

 given that Hugh had told him of Ulf's treason why not let Hugh deal

 with it eh?

 "No, no your Grace, I, I was just going to take Silverwing up for her

 first flight in a while, she, she needs the exercise…"

 "Is that so?" he asked, pulling his face into a quizzical frown "and

 you needed food, water, a bow and arrows, blankets and the such

 like for a quick exercise flight?"

 "I, I wanted her to be used to the normal weight she would carry your

 Grace" came back the reply, well at least the lad had some spunk in

 him supposed Daemon.

 "Did you now? You were not thinking of, oh, I don't know, fleeing

 mayhaps? Of taking yourself off on dragon back to say, Bitterbridge?

 There to offer you and your mount to, let me guess, Lord Ormund

 Hightower?"

 Ulf's face went chalk white at his words, and Daemon's grin grew

 feral as his guards grabbed hold of Ulf to prevent him from doing

 anything stupid, like trying to escape.

 "I see you are not wasting my time trying to deny it, for that I give

 you credit Ulf" Daemon said, before the lad blurted out "I, I demand a

trial by combat, I'm, I'm a Knight! It is my right!"

 Daemon grinned at this, and something tickled the back of his mind,

 he walked over to where he was to be seated at the head of the

 table, some assorted scrolls, parchments and documents were set

 down beside his seat. He picked one up and turned back to face Ulf.

 "This here is an order of degradation, signed by me as Lord

 Protector of the Realm, and by Lord Velaryon, acting in this case as

 both Hand of the Queen and as the Knight who originally bestowed

 the honor of knighthood upon you. With this order you are formally

 stripped of all rights, obligations and privileges of knighthood, and

 you are returned to the status of a smallfolk. You have no rights to

 claim a trial by combat Ulf…."

 When Ulf failed to respond to this he called out "Hugh?"

 At this Ser Hugh stood and walked over to stand before Ulf, who in

 the meantime soiled himself.

 Daemon picked up a Valyrian steel dagger from the table, one with a

 rather horrid dragonbone handle and walked over to Hugh, placing

 the dagger into his hand.

 Ulf's eyes went wide at this, a strangled "please' escaping his lips as

 Hugh suddenly drove the dagger deep into his side, then dragged

 the dagger across Ulf's belly in a horizontal slash, opening Ulf's guts

 up to slop out and splash to the floor in a stinking rush, Ulf's single

 pleaded word turning into an agonized shriek. With a final upwards

 cut Hugh stepped away and back from Ulf, who was only being held

 up by the guards gripping his shoulders.

 "This is nothing personal Ulf, only business" Hugh remarked casually

 as he gutted the man, finishing he took two steps to the table and

 placed the dagger on its surface, his hand and arm slick with Ulf's

 blood. Ser Addam coughed loudly and explosively, which turned into

 a rush of vomit that splattered on the floor noisily.

"Keep the knife Ser Hugh, to remind you always of the price of

 loyalty" Daemon said as he strode over to his seat and sat down.

 "Was, I mean, did, did you really subject Ulf to an order of

 degradation?" asked Ser Addam, wiping his face with the back of his

 arm, before guzzling down a goblet of wine with jerky gulps.

 "No, I would not waste good parchment on trash like that!" he

 laughed "this" he held up the document "is an agreement on trading

 rights with Volantis. The illiterate fool would not have known the

 difference anyway. I kept him alive in the hope of rolling up a goodly

 portion of the Greens agents in Kings Landing, but with the situation

 now altered I have no more use of this traitorous scum. Guards,

 dispose of him in Blackwater Bay."

 "Now, raise your glasses and drink my good Ser's, to victory!" he

 announced, raising his own goblet high before him.