Chapter 231: The Oldest Dragonblood
The dragons landed at Castle Black. The Silver Dragon, the Black Dragon, and the Purple Dragon looked around, appearing somewhat restless. Even though Rhaegar's dragon group could receive magical protection, a dragon was still a dragon; dragons originated from fire, and they simply loathed this place, wanting to sweep the cold away.
"If the dragons stretched their necks and breathed fire, could they completely destroy this place?" Rhaegar thought. The Wall was too high and too long. Although his dragon group's flames carried runes and magic, it was still an unknown variable. What should awaken the Wall was the Horn of Winter. The core of the Wall was magic; it began with magic and foundation stones, and later the Night's Watch continuously raised it with ice blocks and boulders.
"This is the end of the civilized world, my friends!" Rhaegar said to the three dragons, stroking the top of the Silver Dragon's head. The cold of the Wall was truly like the edge of the world, but it might be even colder beyond the Wall, where the howling icy wind carried the cold, merciless stench of the God of Cold. Dragons were ardent fire, while the God of Cold was ruthless ice. Fortunately, the dragon group had benefited from magic and fire, so they did not lose their composure completely. The Brothers in Black marveled as they saw the forms of the dragons; these dragons were all magnificent and dangerous, beautiful beasts among dragons. Maester Aemon was perhaps the most excited, for he possessed Dragonblood after all.
"The dragon has three heads!" Maester Aemon said to Rhaegar. This was a prophecy. The old maester approached the dragons, and the dragons did not attack him. It was not only because the old maester still had Dragonblood, but also because the Dragonrider held no malice toward him.
"Great-great-uncle, these are not a three-headed dragon, but three dragons." Rhaegar corrected the old maester's statement.
"This is a strange prophecy; some believe it means three Targaryens, others believe it means three different dragons, and still others believe a three-headed dragon will appear. You are also a three-headed dragon." The old maester only smiled, holding to his own view. He looked at the magnificent forms of the dragons, their scales seemingly gleaming in the snow; it was something that had appeared in his dreams.
"I have seen shadows of dragons in the snow in my dreams, heard the flapping of leathery wings, and felt their scorching breath. My brothers also dreamed of dragons, and those dreams cost each of them their lives. We dream of dragons, but we do not truly have the magic to awaken them." There was some sadness on the old maester's face; the past of the four brothers was a long time ago. "I truly wish they were still alive to see the roar of the dragons with me. Sometimes, living for too long is a pain in itself."
Rhaegar let it be; the old maester's brothers were quite superstitious. The eldest brother Daeron was a whoremonger, the second brother Aerion Brightflame was a hysterical madman who drank wildfire, and the fourth brother, Rhaegar's great-grandfather, had also started to obsess over summoning dragons in his later years. No wonder people said House Targaryen had madness in its blood.
The old maester was the oldest Dragonblood, and Rhaegar still respected him very much. The third son of the old king's fourth son, a man of the Dragon House.
At night, the Lord Commander hosted Rhaegar and his party of four with crab, mammoth meat, mead, and strong ale. Fortunately, Rhaegar had made Barristan, Myles, and Jon all bring bearskin cloaks, otherwise they would have frozen sooner or later.
"This place is so remote that I feel our hospitality for a royal is lacking in food and lodging. But we have done our best, Your Highness." The Lord Commander said apologetically.
"I am very happy to share your food, and I pay my respects to all the Brothers in Black!" Rhaegar said. He truly admired this group of people; this job was too challenging and grueling. The Night's Watch's supplies were not exactly scarce, but they had to learn to be homeless in the cold, together with the Brothers in Black.
"The crab is delicious!" Lord Commander Qorgyle showed Rhaegar and the others. These crabs had only been shipped from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea that morning; when they arrived, they were still frozen in ice buckets, making them especially fresh and juicy. Eastwatch-by-the-Sea was the easternmost castle of the Wall, located on a windswept beach by the Bay of Seals. Although the duty of the Night's Watch at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea was dealing with the wildlings, a large part of their responsibility was combating smugglers in the Bay of Seals who sold weapons to the wildlings; the Onion Knight had also engaged in this capital offense when he was very young. The fleet of the Night's Watch was also docked at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, including both larger ships capable of crossing the Narrow Sea and slender warships.
So Rhaegar led everyone in feasting, dining at the end of the civilized world. Rhaegar ate the crab meat; these crabs were hard to come by.
"The Brothers in Black warmly welcome your arrival!" Qorgyle raised his glass, and many high-ranking officers also raised theirs. Maester Aemon should have been at the end of the long table, but because the heir to House Targaryen had arrived, this elder had also come to the front.
"Drink up!" Rhaegar said, and the air was filled with the sound of clinking glasses.
The atmosphere began to warm up, because the Night's Watch was not merely entertaining a noble young master, but also a glorious Dragonrider, a triumphant general of the realm, and a free explorer. Prince Rhaegar's squires were also knights or youths of noble birth, such as the fearless Barristan. Knights who had been on the battlefield would share similar views and understand the hardships of military life, and the Lord Commander believed that Prince Rhaegar could better understand their plight.
"I envy you young people; you are the future and the hope. I was once as bright and clear as a blade, but time and the cold have taken it all away. As I get older, my energy fades day by day, and my colleagues are the same." The Lord Commander of the Night's Watch showed Rhaegar his withered face and graying hair.
"Since I took office, I haven't accepted many formally knighted knights; it has always been our set of people running things, old and dying, losing vitality. Let alone the new royal guardsmen; most of what the wandering crows bring back are stable boys, thieves, or rapists. This is not a good thing, Prince." The Lord Commander recounted uneasily.
"Times have changed, my lord." Rhaegar said to the Lord Commander. In the final analysis, it was because of the unification of the Seven Kingdoms; wars had decreased, and there were not so many failed knights packed off and sent north. With long-standing peace, the Night's Watch had now become a shelter for criminals, and regular soldiers were few and far between. The current aging of the Night's Watch commanders and the criminalization of the rank and file was a major trend. The Night's Watch itself was in jeopardy. With such a high volume of scum in the Night's Watch, infighting among the Lord Commanders was inevitable.
"Indeed, times have changed; we seem to have become remnants. When your ancestor Aegon the Conqueror landed, the Lord Commander had ten thousand warriors, a reliable and formidable force. My subordinates have now been reduced to a little over a thousand, and the high-ranking officers are mostly old men like me. The Wall is three hundred miles long; it is simply not enough." The Lord Commander sighed with emotion.
"Thank you for your hospitality; if I can help, I will certainly provide assistance." Rhaegar extended goodwill, sensing that the Lord Commander was there to ask him for money and men. Money was fine, but asking for men was too difficult.
"Prince Rhaegar is a great knight and commander; Prince, you hold the great power of the Rhoyne River Alliance and the Stepstones. As long as you speak, the whole realm will listen! The Night's Watch is already so weak that I must call out; our forces are gradually withering away. The Night's Watch currently has only a little over a thousand men, with six hundred here, over two hundred at the Shadow Tower, and even fewer stationed at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. And the Wall is so long that once wildlings climb up through a gap somewhere, it will be a disaster for the North." The Lord Commander spoke bluntly.
"The Night's Watch can receive a certain amount of funding, but population loss is inevitable; this whole system is anti-human. In times of war among the kingdoms, when the people are destitute, the Night's Watch is a reluctant choice for commoners, but once long-term peace arrives, the Night's Watch will become increasingly difficult to maintain." Rhaegar thought to himself. He had many defeated enemies, but bringing those people here, not to mention considering the capacity of the Wall, was not an option. With the nature of those adventurous mercenaries in the Free Cities, coming to the Wall would be no different from killing them; it would just be a matter of time before they rebelled.
"The situation is indeed difficult. When I was at Winterfell, I saw Lord Stark execute two deserters." Ser Barristan said.
"This makes me feel somewhat ashamed; they should have been good hands among the Night's Watch, but who would have thought it would be so easy for two men to break their vows? I felt sad when I saw the gift sent by Lord Stark." The Lord Commander and the old maester sighed; what they possessed was nothing more than a group of decaying old men and a group of unhappy young men.
"I will report this information in King's Landing!" Rhaegar assured them. His words still carried weight, but he had no confidence in bringing people to the North. King Jaehaerys, Aerys, and Tywin would all consider his words, but it would not help much; it had been like this for three hundred years. Who would be willing to go to the Wall in the North now? And he had not seen anything strange in the North that would overturn the Wall.
"When you fall into crisis, I will ride the dragons and come!" Rhaegar promised them. This place was too remote. Apart from dragons, nothing could arrive quickly.
"I hope that day will not come. But the Long Summer is hard to sustain, and eternal summer is only a legend." The old maester sighed and fell into memory. "If the Long Summer ends, then it will be a long, cold winter. The wildlings are invading; perhaps they are also afraid of something. Nowadays, all kinds of monsters appear in the forests, including direwolves, mammoths, and snow bears as large as bison. If those terrible Others appear, it is not impossible."
"The Long Summer will not come again!" Rhaegar would convey the chill of the North to King's Landing. But it was estimated that no one would believe it. Yet the Long Night, Rhaegar knew, would indeed come; the red fiery meteor would summon the Long Night early.
In the old maester's room, Rhaegar and Maester Aemon chatted.
"Do you still have those dreams now? About dragons, about flying?" the old maester asked.
"Very rarely!" Rhaegar said truthfully. Dragon dreams might come from desire, from an extreme yearning for what one cannot have; he was now rarely troubled by dragon dreams. Possessing the runes of Storm's End, he was insulated against magical attacks.
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