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Rating:
Teen And Up Audiences
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Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceMajor Character Death
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Fandoms:
House of the Dragon (TV)Warhammer Fantasy
Characters:
Ikit ClawRhaenyra TargaryenJacaerys VelaryonLucerys Velaryon (Son of Rhaenyra)Baela TargaryenRhaena Targaryen (Daughter of Daemon)Daemon TargaryenCorlys "The Sea Snake" VelaryonHelaena TargaryenAddam VelaryonBackground & Cameo CharactersSilverwing | Alysanne Targaryen's DragonOriginal CharactersJoffrey Velaryon
Additional Tags:
Crack Treated SeriouslyCanon-Typical ViolenceThe Dance of the Dragons | Aegon II Targaryen v. Rhaenyra Targaryen EraAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceCanonical Character DeathCharacter Turned Into a HumanIkit got isekai'd as Jace's twinSkaven Species (Warhammer Fantasy)Death to all GreensHuman ExperimentationScience ExperimentsIkit is his own warningSilverwing still has shit taste in male ridersPOV MultipleBackground RelationshipsBackground Character Deathshow canon onlyDragon RidersAnimal AbuseIkit is an abusive dragonriderTho he's fairly mellow compared to his SkavenselfGood Parent Rhaenyra TargaryenNo beta we die like LucerysDysfunctional FamilyCannibalismBlood and TortureCanon-Typical BehaviorBAMF Helaena Targaryen
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English
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Published:2026-02-26Completed:2026-04-22Words:181,492Chapters:55/55Comments:1,270Kudos:749Bookmarks:160Hits:33,683
The Rat Prince of Westeros
SkilledWarriorKiwi
Chapter 44: Baela
Chapter Text
Fourteen days it took for that worthless craven to answer her father's challenge.
Baela had been tense the entire time they lay in wait, checking over Moondancer's saddle numerous times and trying to keep her composure as she played dice games with herself. Waiting was even more tedious than actual battle, tending to her small campsite and feeling her energy twist at her limbs. After leaving Maidenpool with Daemon they had agreed to split up with the reasoning Aemond, as much as he puffed himself up, would be too cowardly to confront the Rogue Prince if he came with another. And it seemed well and true, as that idiotic fool had spent more time burning hapless smallfolk before finally traveling to face the Rogue Prince.
She had been staying in a tree copse several leagues away from Harrenhall and when the farsqueaker at her belt lit up she answered it immediately. And within the device came Daemon's voice, informing her of Vhagar's impending approach to Harrenhall. She waiting until her father confirmed Vhagar had landed then she jumped upon Moondancer and quickly bade the green dragon into the air. She knew what way Vhagar was facing, so the duo quickly flew high and fast before dragon or rider could spot her. The sun was setting, the clouds low and heavy with the colder season, and she was swiftly lost from view as the clouds swallowed both dragon and rider. Up and up until the air was thin.
"Nuncle, I hear you have been seeking me," Aemond's voice sounded as if he was speaking right to her.
Her father's response was just as clear, "Only you and the hoary old bitch you ride. Took you long enough."
"Just yourself? You were a fool to come alone."
"Were I not alone, you would not have come."
"Yet you are, and here I am. You have lived far too long."
"On that we agree."
Then she heard Ceraxes's whistling from the device, the sound of leather and armour creaking, and great wings unfolding, and knew they rising for battle within the sky.
Baela tightened the chains at her waist before she adjusted the protective gear she was clad in, pulling down her gas mask and securing it firmly to the helmet so her features were fully covered. Armour compact underneath thick hard leather edged with gleaming sigils, her hair had been tied tight for the helmet and mask that fully encased her head, goggles with a faint green tint with the face-mounted filter of the gas mask making her breathing overly loud and raspy. Moondancer had her own version of the goggles strapped to her scaly head already, to protect her eyes. Baela kept her breathing calm and steady even as her heart seemed to grow tense as the impending battle swept down upon her, as she checked the volume for the device at her hip.
The farsqueaker, Ikit had described it. Able to fit in the hand, being clipped at the belt or hanging from the neck. The small shell was forged from Valyrian steel and within it was various science and sorceries, with the green warpstones chipped in and solely for long distance communications. On the front was a speaker, a dial to switch between sever different frequencies, a short antennae with a green pebble-sized stone at the top with a trigger to activate the speaker. It was a strange small thing yet it would enable them to communicate across Westeros with one another yet as Ikit warned it would be clearer with proximity and less so the further they were from one another. Say for example, attempting to communicate from Winterfell to King's Landing would have various difficulties such as cutting off words and static, but from the distance of herself and her father she could hear him as clearly as if he were standing next to her.
Ikit had told her not to lick it or keep it against her bare skin or use it excessively. Baela accepted his warnings, like those he had given for the Skryre weapony he had given her for her battle. The farsqueaker was one that fascinated her so deeply, the ability to instantly speak to someone leagues away. Not a weapon but something so helpful for communication especially when it came for an ambush.
Even if she felt the name was quite odd and cute, especially with the little rat head etched into the back of the device.
Jace had tersely asked at the time if, perhaps, they could rename it to something else. Ikit had all but screamed 'NO' at him and that was the end of that conversation.
He then ignored his twin to show Baela the other items, the majority of them weapons. As he told her Vhagar was their current risk and she needed to be killed along with her rider. Daemon would be the closest threat beyond himself, yet Ikit said he knew Aemond would refuse to face him and the Rogue Prince together. However Moondancer was small and easily overlooked, and Baela had proved herself to him in her confrontation with the usurper King Aegon. It was why he was trusting her with his Skryre weapons and Baela accepted that.
Queen Rhaenyra had not been happy but after being shown several examples of the weapons, along with Baela herself insisting, she had finally given her blessings for Baela to go support the Rogue Prince in hunting for Vhagar. Ikit himself was to go confront Hugh the Betrayer with Addam in support. Jacaerys would need to remain at the capital to protect the queen and his younger brothers.
Baela had indeed written to Rhaena as Joffrey asked, but she had also quietly left several letters for Jace and her brothers to the queen to hand out if she did indeed fall against Vhagar.
Especially as Ikit had told her discreetly that, if all else fails, she could just fly Moondancer into Vhagar's mouth and the resulting explosion would blow up Vhagar's head and most likely the majority of her body. One way or another, Vhagar and the kinslayer were dying in this battle.
But it was also why Ikit had warned her to be careful. The weapons he gave her were powerful and he had refined them beyond anything known, but warpstone was temperamental no matter the genius of the one handling it. It would be better for all if she did not get struck by Vhagar's flames unless there was no choice.
They were tactics she and Daemon had discussed in the days leading to Aemond finally appearing.
Ikit hadn't cared, simply demanding she kill Aemond. She knew he hated the kinslayer for his murder of Lucerys and she was fairly violent about it as well, so his trusting of her for the vengeance she knew meant a great deal. She had proven herself and she would keep the Rat Prince's trust. She still did not know how his mind worked and she was unhappy with Ikit leaving when his relationship with Jace was so fractured even if he had forgiven Rhaenyra at one point, but the war waited for no one. Corlys had speculated once that his inventions were dreams of Old Valyria, things from the ancient past that he thought of through a dream, even if none of them really knew what Skryre meant.
Regardless of the origins Ikit had perfected the infernal weaponry of Skryre and the Warplock Jezzail was one such thing. Once it had been a musket, intended for sniping units, and with such a long barrel it needed to be operated by a team of two; one to aim and fire, another to prop up the weapon on a shield. Reloading was also tedious, requiring the user to insert powder, ball and wadding into the barrel, ram them home, and then prime the pan between each shot. Yet now with the augmentation of Valyrian steel and Ikit's own genius, the Warplock Jezzail could be operated by a single person and could be shot and reloaded through the upgraded firing and reloading mechanism, with him giving her several bags of bullets. The bullets were a mixture of Valyrian steel with warpstone, something that could pierce even the hide of a dragon as ancient as Vhagar.
Baela hadn't understood Ikit's near feverous explanation for the item's origin, but she listened attentively as he showed her how to fire and reload the weapon. She learned about the jezzail's toggle-link action, the Valyrian steel 'bullets' Same for the other weapons he had given her, she listened with the intensity of one who knew their life depended upon it. Ikit had been clear, that while he had perfected his weapons they could still kill the user if handled carelessly.
Still, she was used to crossbows. The jezzail was such an advantage over a crossbow she struggled to understand it but she could be in awe later. For now she was heading into a fight that could end up with her dead and couldn't be distracted by the magics Ikit had brought home.
She pushed it all down, heading into a deadly calm as she settled in the saddle and feeling Moondancer's own determination. Her dragon hadn't hesitated to strike out at Sunfyre, and it was not different with Vhagar. Neither were cravens, neither of them would kill fleeing envoys. It didn't matter they had lured Aemond here under false pretenses, the kinslayer needed to die like the rest of his brothers.
Even with the helmet she could hear Daemon's voice from the farsqueaker. Telling her positions and height, and she glanced over at the sun just beginning to kiss the horizon and quickly adjusted Moondancer's flight to Daemon's words. Distantly she could also hear Ceraxes, using both her father and the Bloodwyrm to track Vhagar from where she was hidden below by the cloud cover. Due to her size Vhagar was having to ascend in ever widening circles that took her and her rider out over the waters of the Gods Eye and Baela moved further south-east to overtake the much larger dragon. A few patches in the cloud showed the crimson isle within the heart of the Gods Eye, the immense cluster of weirwood. Then the clouds moved and she was alone in the sky as two huge dragons circled below.
The first shot would be the most important.
Baela's breath remained calm and even as she unlatched the Warplock Jezzail from the holster at the side of the saddle. She had several other weapons but now she needed the long distance accuracy of the jezzail. With luck, she could kill Aemond before he even knew what had happened. Vhagar would be furious with the loss of her rider but they could simply flee the dragon and eventually she would calm.
Her gloves tightened around the jezzail, legs clamped tight around the saddle as she straightened up and focused on guiding Moondancer solely by voice and Daemon's own guidance.
It was why when Moondancer dived down in a sweeping curve, bursting out of the clouds in a shower of droplets, they abruptly found themselves above and behind Vhagar to her left side.
Aemond's blind side.
He was focused opposite them, where the Bloodwyrm's tail was shooting up into the cloud Baela had just flown down from.
The wind was whistling, Moondancer streaked forward, and Baela raised the Warplock Jezzail to her shoulder, took aim, and fired.
The sharp crack snapped through the air and with a streak of brilliant green the warpstone infused bullet took Aemond through the left shoulder. She saw him lurch forward even as Vhagar howled in response to her rider's sudden pain. Baela snapped down the lever of the jezzail, ejecting the spent cartridge, and then firing again even as the impact throbbed her shoulder. This time the bullet hit Vhagar in the flank but did nothing more than anger the great beast as she turned sharply.
She fired once, twice, three more times before she hastily shoved the jezzail back in place and seized Moondancer's reins. Aemond was wounded but a shoulder wound wouldn't kill him.
Vhagar chased after Moondancer, huge wings snapping the air as she chased the far smaller she-dragon. Above there was a streak of crimson as Ceraxes dived down but Vhagar's huge size actually lent her extra speed as she plummeted down.
Baela belatedly realized she should've gone upwards instead of diving, as that huge fanged maw snapped closer and closer, but she still had weapons on hand. Fumbling behind her, she felt the heavy fuel-tank strapped to the concho of the saddle, and then unhooking the handle of the weapon. Standing up on the saddle, chains drawn tight, Baela pointed the Warpfire Thrower nozzle at Vhagar's huge jaw and pulled the trigger.
The stream of Warpfire was thick and viscous, almost like syrup as it blasted forth in a emerald stream up towards the dragon rapidly closing the distance between them.
Vhagar veered wildly, bestial instinct making her avoid the magical napalm, and it instead splashed against her chest instead of down her throat. Her ancient scales resisted most of it, but the rest of the warpfire splattered and seeped into the barely sealed wounds upon her breast that Meleys had inflicted during Rook's Rest. The she-dragon's scream of pain made Baela flinch before she hardened her heart as she quickly cut off the stream of deadly flame least Moondancer be struck.
A second later Ceraxes burst out from above like a crimson thunderbolt, colliding with Vhagar's flank and the two great beasts began to tear and bite at one another as their flames lit up the sky until fishermen from far down below feared the clouds themselves had caught fire.
Hooking the nozzle back onto the fuel-tank, sigils and arcane symbols glowing softly upon the metal, Baela seized Moondancer's reins and sent the little dragon flying back to the two huge ones fighting midair.
She immediately knew warpfire could kill Daemon as easily as it could Aemond and the jezzail wouldn't kill Vhagar even if she could see Aemond was wounded and in pain from the shoulder blow. Still there were more weapons at her disposal. As Moondancer sped past, Baela reached one hand into a pouch before her as she switched on the farsqueaker.
"Disengage!"
Ceraxes roared, high and shrill, kicking Vhagar away even as his belly bleed but Vhagar's own throat was bleeding and the wounds at her breast were cracked and bubbling foully. As Vhagar's huge wings beat, trying to gain altitude as the Gods Eye rapidly loomed below them with her wing membranes bleeding, Moondance soared above her in a spiral so Baela was temporarily upside down.
Baela then dumped the entire contents of the pouch onto Vhagar's back as they shot past. The crystal orbs, filled with purple-tinted warpstone gas, shattered across Vhagar's spine and saddle. Both dragon and rider screamed even as Baela pressed close as they flew overhead the billowing cloud of toxins, but her protective suit spared her flesh from melting into bubbling pus. Moondancer's tail and Aemond himself weren't as lucky and when Moondancer squawked, pain shifting through their link, Vhagar thrashed wildly and her massive tail, as thick as an ancient tree truck, struck Moondancer in the chest and sent her flying in a green blur.
Both dragon and rider went plummeting down, skipping across the water of the Gods Eye and crashing into the edge of the water.
Moondancer cried out, a wing bent oddly yet she managed to flail to the surface, while Baela reeled in her saddle with an ugly pain radiating through her. Moondancer managed to crawl to the shore, flailing violently in the water before she collapsed on the sandy shore. Baela pried off her helmet, even as high above Ceraxes let out a shriek that was heard for miles in all directions as he collided with Vhagar once again. Even with her rider dying, chained to her saddle as his flesh split and boiled from the horrific gas, the Conquest beast was rampaging and now was forced upon the Bloodwyrm rather than the small dragon below.
Baela fell off Moondancer onto the shore, the dragon wounded but alive yet unable to fly. Baela grabbed at the saddle, yanking out a waterskin and sucking a mouthful of the magicked serum within. Her vision ran green, even as she yanked the Warplock Jezzail free of its holster as high above Ceraxes and Vhagar were entangled and plummeting towards the water.
She felt her broken ribs knitting back together, a truly odd sensation, but ignoring that she fit the jezzail against her shoulder as she aimed high at the tangle of dragons hurling down. Ceraxes's teeth were embedded in Vhagar's throat, black blood vomiting free, yet Vhagar's jaws snapped down upon the Bloodwyrm's wing and began to pull.
And Baela felt her limbs lock up, as if her blood was slowing in her veins. Her heartbeat roared in her ears even as fire filled her body and soul, her focus narrowed to a target high above her yet in that instant she had never been more certain of anything.
She pulled the trigger, fire enveloping the warpstone-infused Valyrian bullet, and shot out across the air with a great crack of crimson and green. The piercing bolt struck Vhagar in the eye from several leagues away, puncturing through flesh and blood to strike deeply into the brain and killing the she-dragon before she could tear away Ceraxes's wing.
Vhagar's body went limp mid-air as her jaws lolled open, a colossal dead weight of several dozen tonnes plummeting downward as Ceraxes kicked her away.
Half a heartbeat later both of the dragons struck the lake, sending up a gout of water as high as a tower.
Baela barely had time to wonder what had even happened, the fire filling her limbs just as quickly vanishing and leaving her cold and light headed. She fell over, coughing and wheezing in the sand as her vision blurred and edged red. The jezzail lay on the ground before her, the muzzle having exploded open from that final shot. The split metal was burning hot.
When she regained her senses she managed to stumble to Moondancer, urging her dragon to suck down a mouthful of the serum. The she-dragon hissed and whined but settled as Baela stroked her, watching as her broken wing snapped into place as the healing magic rapidly worked.
Then she ran across the shore as Ceraxes emerged from the Gods Eye like a great sea serpent from mythos. His chest was shredded to show black bones and the Bloodwyrm's breathing was wheezing, pink foam crusting the corner of his jaws. She waited for him to collapse before she dared to dart forward and squirt the serum into his jaws, the dragon so exhausted all he could do was hiss at her halfheartedly.
She was glad Ikit had given her enough of the strange magical liquid for four doses. Now she just-
It was then Baela realized Daemon wasn't strapped to Ceraxes's back, instead the saddle was empty.
"Father?" Baela called out, her elation at facing Vhagar yet living fading as she looked around wildly. "Father!"
Moondancer answered her call as the Bloodwyrm remained wheezing, the she-dragon's wing fully restored and her blistered tail smooth. Even the ugly scars from Sunfyre had faded.
Not even bothering to chain herself to the saddle she sent Moondancer up, calling into the farsqueaker several times and getting no answer. In the sunset the water looked black with orange ripples, Baela frantically looking upon the dark waters for any sign of Daemon.
"Answer me, gods curse you!" Baela ended up screaming into the device.
Then Ceraxes joined the search, his injury still healing as his muscles slithered slowly back as his tattered wing wove together but the dragon skimmed the water like an eagle and snapped his head down to where the tip of Vhagar's wing was. As Moondancer circled, the last remnant of Vhagar vanishing beneath the waves, Ceraxes tugged his head up with a limp armoured figure in his jaws.
Upon the Isle of Faces a flock of ravens watched them soundlessly from the forest of weirwood as both dragons landed at the shore. Baela scrambled down and ran to Daemon as Ceraxes's released him onto the grass. His helm was gone, blood on his temple with cuts upon his face, but Baela ignored that to start stripping his armour.
She may be of fire and blood but she still had a Velaryon mother. She knew how to push air back into the lungs of those who drowned, to try and incite them back into breathing air. She ended up cutting the straps of Daemon's breastplate, throwing it aside with panicked movements as both dragons watched. She linked her hands, shoving hard down onto her father's chest as he remained sodden and unresponsive on the ground. Then she pinched his nose and covered his mouth with hers, breathing air back into his lungs as he lay there, pale hair strewn across the ground.
"Wake up, you cunt. Wake up!" she was all but shrieking as she drew back. "You don't get to die, not now!"
Again she shoved at his chest, and then leaned down to breath back into his mouth.
And this time Daemon spat a mouthful of water into her face. Baela hastily shoved him onto his side, slapping Daemon on the back as he coughed and retched. She may have hit him a bit harder than needed, feeling the tension snap in body as she started laughing.
"Gods above, let us not do that again," Daemon wheezed, slumped on his side.
"She's dead...we killed her, we killed Vhagar," Baela's breath was tight in her chest, heart hammering as she offered the waterskin to Daemon.
He drank the last of the odd tonic, still looking drowned. The Rogue Prince grimaced, tossing aside the empty waterskin and patting Ceraxes's snout as the Bloodwyrm crooned and settled down on his belly. The tonic may heal their wounds but the battle had been taxing.
"Knew that hoary old bitch wouldn't go down without a fight," Daemon said tiredly, pushing his sodden hair back. "And she was the last of the Conquest beasts. Down to join Quicksilver. At least..." he leaned over, spitting out a mouthful of water that held a faint green tint to it. "At least our queen can rest easy, Lucerys has been avenged. With the kinslayer dead Luke can rest easy in the beyond, and the war is now all but over."
"I wasn't going to be the one to inform the queen you died, some Protector of the Realm you would be then," Baela said before she sniffed then burst into tears.
Baela tried to stop but the stress of everything, the weeks of waiting and the tension of war, her fury and grief at the deaths of Lucerys and Rhaenys, her own near death and the fire that swallowed her and then her father almost drowning, it was too much.
She kept sobbing, even when Daemon reached out and pulled her against him. Water dripped onto her, even as the sun fully set with darkness enveloping the isle. Moondancer shuffled close, coiling around them like a great cat even as Ceraxes settled down with a snorting huff.
"Ah my girl," Daemon said, a low affection in his voice Baela had rarely heard from him even as he kissed at her temple. "My brave, brave girl."
Baela just cried harder, leaning against her father.
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