Chapter 41: The King's Decline and the Dragon's Divided Dance (Reign of Viserys I: Part 2)
The reign of King Viserys I Targaryen, which had begun with such promise of peace and continued prosperity, slowly, inexorably, began to curdle under the weight of its own internal contradictions and the festering sores of unresolved ambition. From his timeless sanctuary within Mount Skatus, Aelyx Velaryon watched the unfolding drama in King's Landing with the detached fascination of an ancient god observing the tragic, self-inflicted follies of mortals. The seeds of strife, sown by Viserys's own hand when he named Rhaenyra his heir against the precedent of the Great Council, were now sprouting into a venomous garden of factionalism, intrigue, and barely suppressed hatred.
Decades had passed since Viserys ascended the Iron Throne. He was no longer the cheerful, amiable "Young King," but a man increasingly plagued by ill health – a creeping rot in his flesh that mirrored the decay within his own court and family. His desire to be loved had morphed into a desperate, often ineffectual, attempt to please all factions, a policy that ultimately pleased none and emboldened those who sought to usurp his daughter's claim.
The court had irrevocably split into two warring camps: the "greens," loyal to Queen Alicent Hightower and her sons by Viserys – Aegon, Aemond, and Daeron – and the "blacks," who championed the cause of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the King's named heir. Aelyx's intelligence network, led by the ageless Tibbit (still appearing as a succession of venerable, discreet Volmark advisors in the public eye), provided him with a granular, almost daily, account of the escalating tensions. He learned of the veiled insults at court, the rival feasts, the tourneys where green and black knights clashed with a ferocity that went beyond mere sport, the whispers in the corridors of the Red Keep that grew louder and more treasonous with each passing year.
"Viserys presides over a crumbling edifice," Aelyx observed to Lyanna, as they studied reports detailing a particularly nasty public spat between Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra. "He papers over the cracks with pronouncements of unity and forced reconciliations, but the foundations are rotten with ambition and resentment. His love for his daughter blinds him to the pragmatic necessity of securing her claim beyond mere oaths sworn under duress."
The marriage of Princess Rhaenyra to Ser Laenor Velaryon, son of Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys, had been a politically expedient match designed to heal the rift from the Great Council and bind the powerful Velaryons to Rhaenyra's cause. However, whispers of Laenor's own… particular inclinations, and the subsequent, undeniable Strong features of Rhaenyra's three sons – Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey – cast a long, dark shadow over their legitimacy. Aelyx's agents confirmed what many at court suspected: the boys were almost certainly the bastards of Ser Harwin Strong, Rhaenyra's sworn shield and rumored lover.
"A fatal misstep," Aelyx declared to his immortal council. "To allow such blatant questions of paternity to fester around her heirs… Rhaenyra provides her enemies with their most potent weapon. Legitimacy is the cornerstone of royal authority, especially when a woman's claim is already contested. She displays a Valyrian arrogance, a belief that her will alone can override custom and perception. It is a trait that often precedes a fall."
The death of Ser Laenor Velaryon under mysterious circumstances, followed swiftly by Rhaenyra's secret, scandalous marriage to her uncle, Prince Daemon Targaryen, further inflamed the greens. Daemon, ever the Rogue Prince, had returned from his adventures in the Stepstones (where he had carved out a short-lived kingdom with Corlys Velaryon) and his marriage to Laena Velaryon (Laenor's sister, who had died tragically after a stillbirth, commanding her dragon Vhagar to burn her). His union with Rhaenyra consolidated the power of the blacks, bringing together two formidable Targaryens and their dragons, Caraxes and Syrax. But it also horrified many conservative lords and gave Queen Alicent and Ser Otto Hightower (who had briefly been dismissed as Hand but whose influence remained) more ammunition.
Aelyx watched Daemon's trajectory with particular interest. "He is a force of pure, untamed Valyrian fire," he noted. "Utterly self-serving, ruthless, yet undeniably capable. His presence at Rhaenyra's side both strengthens and weakens her cause. He brings martial prowess and a powerful dragon, but also a reputation for instability and cruelty that will alienate many."
One of the most critical escalations, a point of no return in the eyes of many, including Aelyx, occurred after the death of Laena Velaryon. Her dragon, the ancient and colossal Vhagar – one of the original three conquest dragons – was left riderless. Prince Aemond Targaryen, Queen Alicent's second son, a boy who had long endured taunts for being dragonless, seized the opportunity. He bravely, or recklessly, claimed Vhagar. In the ensuing confrontation at Driftmark, a vicious fight broke out between Aemond and Rhaenyra's sons. Lucerys Velaryon, defending his brother, slashed out with his dagger, taking Aemond's right eye.
The incident was smoothed over by King Viserys, desperate to maintain peace between his wife's children and his daughter's. But Aemond Targaryen, thereafter known as Aemond One-Eye, would never forgive the loss. And now, the greens possessed Vhagar, a dragon whose power rivaled even Balerion in his prime.
"The children's squabble has escalated the game to a new, bloodier level," Aelyx observed, as Lyra recounted her green-tinged visions of the event. "An eye for an eye… it will become a war of annihilation. Aemond, with Vhagar, is now a weapon of immense power for Alicent's faction. The balance of draconic strength, while still favoring Rhaenyra and Daemon in numbers of dragons, has shifted significantly in terms of individual destructive capability."
Publicly, Lord Beron Volmark (and after his appropriately timed "death in a hunting accident," his son, Lord Torrhen III Volmark – Aelyx's great-great-great-grandson) continued to rule Skagos with quiet wisdom and unwavering loyalty to Winterfell. Skagos remained aloof from the southern court's poisonous intrigues. They sent lavish, impersonal gifts to King's Landing for royal births, weddings, and name days, fulfilling their obligations as distant, wealthy vassals, but never taking sides. The North itself, under the cautious leadership of successive Stark Wardens, largely kept its own counsel, its lords more concerned with harsh winters and wildling raids than with the squabbles of Targaryen princes and princesses. Aelyx, through his public descendants, subtly encouraged this isolationism, ensuring the North remained a stable, neutral buffer.
Within the sanctuary, however, the preparations for the inevitable storm intensified. Lyra and Daenys, their greensight now a constant, harrowing window into the future, began to see the Dance of the Dragons with terrifying clarity. They spoke of specific betrayals, of dragon battles fought over God's Eye and Rook's Rest, of kinslaying, of green and black dragons tearing each other from the sky, of King's Landing itself consumed by riot and flame. Their detailed prophecies, transcribed by house-elf scribes into specially warded volumes, became Aelyx's most precious intelligence.
"This 'Dance' will be the funeral pyre of Targaryen dragonpower as the world knows it," Aelyx declared to his assembled dynasty, after a particularly grim session with his seer daughters. "They will expend their greatest assets in mutual destruction. It is a tragedy born of arrogance, flawed succession, and uncontrolled ambition. We will learn from it. We will ensure such self-destructive folly never infects our own line."
His dragonriders – his children, grandchildren, and now even some of his eldest great-grandchildren who were bonded to the newer generations of Skagosi dragons – drilled with renewed urgency. Their training scenarios, devised by Visenya Volmark and Maegor, now incorporated tactics for fighting other dragons, for exploiting weaknesses, for surviving overwhelming odds – all based on the anticipated blunders and brutalities of the coming Targaryen civil war. The Skagosi dragon herd, now numbering well over two hundred and fifty, was a disciplined, multi-generational force, their loyalty absolute, their powers honed in secret.
Aelyx and Aenar redoubled their research into advanced magical defenses. They perfected wards that could not only absorb dragonfire but also reflect or redirect its energy. They developed illusionary cloaks for entire sections of Mount Skatus, capable of deceiving even a dragon's senses or a sorcerer's scrying. They even experimented with localized magical nullification fields, designed to temporarily dampen or disrupt another dragon's ability to breathe fire, a desperate defensive measure of last resort. Stockpiles of food, water, magical components, and strategic materials within the sanctuary were expanded to ensure Skagos could remain entirely self-sufficient for decades, if necessary, should the outside world descend into prolonged chaos.
Aelyx also reviewed, with cold precision, the succession protocols for his own hidden dynasty. His immortality, and Lyanna's, provided the ultimate stability at the apex. But he ensured that the lines of authority and responsibility among his children and grandchildren were crystal clear, their loyalty reinforced by magical oaths, shared knowledge, and the undeniable benefits of their unique, protected existence. There would be no Volmark civil war, no squabbling over his legacy. His will was absolute, his line eternal.
As King Viserys I's health continued its inexorable decline, his body wracked with pain, his mind often clouded by milk of the poppy, the governance of the realm increasingly fell to his Small Council, now heavily dominated by Queen Alicent and her father, Otto Hightower. Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon spent most of their time on Dragonstone, gathering their own supporters, their resentment at the Hightowers' growing influence palpable. The realm held its breath, waiting for the Old King to finally die, knowing that his passing would be the signal for the storm to break.
Aelyx, watching from afar, felt a strange mixture of contempt for the Targaryens' impending self-destruction and a grim anticipation of the opportunities it might create in the very long term. A Westeros weakened by civil war, its dragon population decimated, might one day be more amenable to a new, more subtle form of guidance, a guidance his own dynasty, emerging from the shadows after centuries of patient preparation, could perhaps provide. But that was a concern for future generations of his immortal line. His immediate priority was to ensure Skagos remained an inviolable sanctuary, a silent, watchful eye in the coming storm.
The final reports from Tibbit's agents in King's Landing spoke of a king near death, of Queen Alicent keeping a close vigil, of Prince Aegon (Alicent's eldest son) being quietly groomed for the throne despite Viserys's unwavering decree for Rhaenyra. The ravens were being watched, messages intercepted. The greens were preparing to strike the moment Viserys drew his last breath.
"The Dance is about to begin," Lyra whispered to Aelyx one evening, her face ashen, her eyes reflecting the fiery doom she had foreseen for so long. "The dragons will weep tears of fire, and the realm will bleed."
Aelyx nodded, his violet eyes like chips of ancient ice. "Let them dance, my daughter. Let them burn. We will watch, we will learn, and we will endure. Our time is not yet. But it will come. It will come." The Shadow King of Skagos closed his eyes, his mind already sifting through the myriad possibilities, the countless threads of fate, preparing his hidden kingdom for the long, dark night that was about to fall upon the dragons of House Targaryen.