Jaehaerys looked at the chained man in front of him.
"I wanted to ask... what were you planning to do?" Maybe another big plan, leading Stannis to the Stepstones and letting the pirates there attack.
"You... a year, a dragon should not be that big... It was not possible," Rodrick said in a quiet, defeated voice.
"A squid should not be that stupid," Jaehaerys said. The man has no big plans after all.
"Greenland bastard!" the man spat on the ground, his saliva dripping onto the prince's boot. "Ugh!" Jaehaerys kicked him in the face, restraining his strength a little, knocking out a couple of teeth. "What?" the man asked, dizzy. The kick had caused his brain to shut down for a few seconds. "Is this how you treat a hostage... what will you do when you need to exchange..." Jaehaerys kicked him again, this time in the stomach.
"Hostage?" asked the prince, his voice full of good humor. "You're a prisoner, there will be no exchange for you," Jaehaerys told him.
"My father will not negotiate otherwise," Rodrick looked at him as if he were crazy.
"I'm not interested in negotiating," Jaehaerys said. "Honestly, you're lucky to be alive... I burned every one of those ships hoping you were on board," he confessed, as if it were a closely guarded secret.
"What... what do you want from me?" asked the chained man.
"Nothing," Jaehaerys said with a smile that chilled him to the bone, making him want to pray to the Drowned God. "You're just going to open the battlefield once I'm at the gates of your father's castle," he said.
"Open the battlefield?" the man asked, watching the prince leave the room. He left him with only that question.
Jaehaerys left the interior of the ship. On deck, the voices died down as soon as the sailors recognized him. He was on Fury, Stannis' flagship.
"Prince," Stannis greeted him, but his eyes were not on him; they were on the dragon floating above the water.
"Moonfyre is quite amazing," Jaehaerys said cheerfully. He looked at Stannis, who didn't seem tense, angry, or happy. He was a difficult man to read, even though at first glance he seemed quite simple.
"The men fear him," Davos said, with a little confidence in the prince. "I must say that they have never agreed more quickly on anything other than the desire never to become your enemy," he was sincere to the core.
"I don't want enemies either," said the prince. "They slow down the development of my lands," he added. The Greyjoys had been troublesome. If it weren't for his personal interest in them, he would not have left Argentstone.
"I hear you plan to make Ha-Argentstone a center of commerce, even turn it into a city," Davos said, quite talkative.
"It is within my plans," confessed the prince.
"May I ask something, my prince? It may be too direct a question," Davos seemed a little worried.
"It's not as if you speak softly, Onion Knight," Jaehaerys gave him the go-ahead.
"With your dragons, what's stopping you from becoming king of the Seven Kingdoms?" Davos asked, regretting it seconds later. Even Stannis looked about to reprimand him, and for a moment the former smuggler wondered if he would cut out his tongue for his impertinence.
"I can't be bothered," Jaehaerys said immediately. "I like to learn, investigate, invent... my dragons are to protect my lands, not to conquer others," Davos sighed with relief that he hadn't taken his words the wrong way.
"You don't want to be king?" Davos said. "Everyone on this continent has thought about putting their butt on that pointy throne," he commented. This time, Stannis said nothing, but he still had a dangerous look in his eyes.
"I don't want to. The king is just a false sense of power. And I don't want to leave the same legacy that kings before me left," said the prince, his voice deepening. "Death, destruction, war... fire and blood. There are already a thousand who covet that legacy, that glory is as real as the Greyjoys' chances of winning this war. I want to leave something else, something that no one else has ever done or even thought of." The prince wondered if Davos was secretly an admirer of the Red God and had a knack for getting people to talk.
"False glory..." said Davos. "Perhaps the kingdom needs someone who doesn't want to be ki-" He was interrupted by Stannis.
"Enough, Davos! Make sure the deck is completely clean," Stannis had a little sweat on his forehead.
"Your words border on treason, Davos. I hope it's not something you say every day," Jaehaerys said flatly. Davos bowed his head as he withdrew.
"He didn't mean to offend you... Davos is a sincere man. A sailor from Flea Bottom. He didn't know the Manners," said Stannis, surprisingly putting his hands on Davos's shoulders.
"I know... I envy you for having such a man under your command," Jaehaerys said sincerely. "Sincerity is rare in these lands. A good quality, yes. But one must know where to be sincere," he looked out at the ocean, the salt having become his companion for several days. "I hope Davos is able to learn that; he is an interesting man," the prince said, almost melancholically.
Stannis remained silent, secretly glad that Jaehaerys did not hold a poor opinion of the former smuggler; there were few men he could call friends.
"We will go south, skirting the coast to the west," Stannis said, announcing his movements. "The ships are nowhere near as fast as your dragon. What will the prince do?" he asked curiously.
Jaehaerys thought for a moment. He wondered how many Ironborn ships remained. Balon's fleet had been completely destroyed. Only minor lords remained, attacking the coast in scattered groups. They were no threat on their own, but if they banded together, they could cause problems. A rain of arrows was a real threat to the prince.
He wondered how many days it was until Manderly and his men arrived. He didn't need them for the war, but he did need them for his plans after it. If Stannis continued on his own, he would stop at the attacked villages to defend them. Although the Dornish were doing a good job, they couldn't defend everywhere, and nothing was better than a sweep to end the looting.
"I will go to the front," said Jaehaerys. "The coasts in the east are safe," he thought aloud. "I cannot confirm the movements of the Redwyne fleet, so I will go to the front. I will destroy as many enemy ships as I find. I hope that will allow the Targaryen and Baratheon fleets to move faster because of it," he told Stannis. "Has the royal fleet caused problems?" he asked the lord.
"No, even though the king is not with us, they have been... efficient," Stannis replied.
"It's a pity Aegon cannot guide them," said Prince Jaehaerys.
It was in the last few days that Myrcella, Aegon's wife, fell ill. She had come down with a fever. Jaehaerys offered to call Qyburn to treat her, but the king flatly refused. With that, the king preferred to stay in King's Landing to be by his wife's side.
'What would I have done in his place?' the prince wondered. Would he have led his men, or would he have watched over Daenerys' health?
'Ahhh... as if I couldn't burn the Seven Kingdoms down later,' he answered himself easily.
"I'll go now. Send a small part of the fleet, about 30 ships, to King's Landing in search of any straggling Ironborn," the prince gave one last order. Stannis nodded through clenched teeth.
Jaehaerys then took a rope to lower himself into the sea. As incredible as the possibility of jumping directly onto his dragon's back was, it was further than his legs could jump, and he would probably end up breaking them in the fall. He had no choice but to swim.
Moonfyre spread her wings over the ocean and, in one swift movement, flapped them. Jaehaerys didn't know she could do it so fast, but she took off with ease. She soared into the air while the prince ordered his eagle to approach him so that it could fly above the dragon; after all, it couldn't keep up with her.
Jaehaerys flew for quite some time before finding the first Ironborn ships. It was almost sunset, and they were attacking a Dornish coastal village. They had already disembarked by the time the prince burned their ships. On the ships was a coat of arms with an oak cross on a blue background... well, the background soon burned white.
Jaehaerys found the silvery-white glow of the flames quite beautiful; it reminded him of Daenerys' hair.
The Ironborn surrendered when they saw the dragon and approached the shore without weapons or armor. They were about to beg for mercy.
Their mouths were not faster than the dragon's.