A Rogue Dragon's Flight Chapter 9 (ASOIAF Daemon Tragryen SI) (Patreon)

Magic, real magic is something that I didn’t think I would ever see, dragons are one thing but to hold the power to change the natural world, to govern what shouldn’t be governed, today I learned of true power and I don’t think I will be the same ever again…

….there are many mysteries in the world both big and small and soon I will be holding the key to every one of them but I must be careful, or else my hubris could bring everything down around me. My ancestors were once the rulers of the world, they did great things with magic, terrible things too but great and that’s all we can aspire to be as Dragon Lords, to be great and terrible…

…One thing I can say about magic, in general, is that it requires sacrifice. All magic is sacrifice, but what you sacrifice may not be apparent at first glance, energy is magic in such a fundamental way that I can barely explain it myself, that is why some wizards tire after casting a spell, blood willingly given or forcefully taken from an enemy is also a great fuel for power. I think that’s what took down the old Dragon Lords, in their arrogance they forgot the basic principles of magic, of the sacrifice that one must make and brought doom to their people. I hope that I never make the same mistake…

…Today I heard the old saying once more, of how magic is a sword without a hilt, I could barely hold myself back from sneering at such stupidity, magic is might, and like all things dangerous the possibility of hurting yourself remains but as long as one understands how to use it’s no more dangerous than to learn how to juggle knives, you may cut yourself from time to time, perhaps even get a nasty cut but eventually there will be no new wounds on your hands. Mastering magic is not easy and it shouldn’t be or else we would all find ourselves using it…

Excerpts from Daemon Tragaryen’s personal journal found in the book of Magic, Might and Mind written decades after his death.

[Dragonstone, Sea Dragon Tower]

Daemon Targaryen

My eyes were glued to the pages of Visenya’s journal and despite not being entirely about magic it was very entertaining. The woman was insane or rather she was a visionary and had her plans worked we would be living in a very different world, the woman wanted her son to marry her and she made sure that Maegor couldn’t have children with anyone but her thanks to a potion she brewed and that I now knew thanks to the journal.

This was a huge way to maintain power, with a feast and some drops of the potion I could end the lines of any noble in Westeros, if I wanted to I could make sure that Viserys never had another child and guarantee my place as heir to the throne, hell I could try to do what Visenya planned and hold all of Westeros in my grip by poisoning every lord and making sure only those loyal to me continued their families and this was just the first part of the journal, I was impatient to know what more I could find in this thing, what other secrets I could discover but sadly I couldn’t hide myself in the tower forever, not while keeping it a secret.

At least I was smart enough to tell Rhea otherwise I would have another set of problems on my hands.

“Daemon the king is asking for you, he wants you to meet him along with the rest of the council in the room of the painted table” the ever-loyal Willam had become my shadow while on this trip, and as such he was acting almost like my squire as he delivered messages and brought me the things I was asking for..

I hadn’t asked him to do so but he was very curious about the magic of old Valyria and wondered if it was similar to the magic his ancestors once wielded something I hadn’t even considered but once we went back to Runestone there would be plenty of time to explore the magic of the first men.

Finally after reading one more passage about the use of the blood of dragonseeds as fuel for a spell I closed the book and spoke to Willam.

“Then let’s not keep him waiting, I trust that you can keep everything safe in here while I answer the king’s summons? Also, I seem to have lost my wife sometime in between breaking my fast and now, any idea where Rhea is?”

“You can count on me to keep your research safe” that was one way to call it I suppose and it’s not exactly wrong either, I just hope that the spies of my grandfather keep their noses out of it “as for your wife…well, after some words harsh words about old witches”

Willam coughed before continuing and I think the word that he heard from my wife wasn’t ‘witch’ at least he knew better than to say something disparaging about one of my ancestors, not that I cared but if someone heard that could be problematic. “She decided to spend some time with lady Aemma and the young princess”

“Hmm, well at least I know she isn’t lonely” with that said I started making my way through the castle to see what the king wanted, the servants that passed me by took discreet glances at my choice of clothing but I knew by the hungry looks the women were giving me that I looked like a prize.

The fact that I wasn’t reeking of sweat or shit probably helped too and I couldn’t help but laugh a little as I remembered that little tidbit of knowledge about how the Vikings unintentionally seduced women just because they groomed themselves and smelled better than the men from the continent.

As soon as I entered the room of the painted table all eyes were on me as the council of my grandfather tried to contain their surprise but after a dismissive wave from the king they started filing out of the room and once they were gone and only the king and my father remained, the crown prince couldn’t contain himself anymore.

“Daemon why are you dressed like that?” my father asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You don’t like it?” I said while swishing around the cape on my shoulders, I had gone for something dramatic and got myself a white Victorian-style shirt that I opened up in the middle to expose as much of my chest as I could along with some very tight pants and matching black boots, all in all, I looked like one of the guys on those porn novels that women liked to read.

“You look like you’re planning on selling your body to the highest bidder” the king deadpanned as he took the cup in front of him and drained the contents in a single swig. I don’t know why they were stressing over something as dumb as clothes but it wasn’t my problem.

“That isn’t a bad idea. Maybe I should sell myself for a night to the ladies of the realm, that sure would be a fine way to raise money for my projects”

“I’ll be sure to tell that to your wife” the crown prince mumbled before the king gave him a look and shut himself up.

“Now that you mention it Daemon, would you tell me why you want the alchemists? They are waiting in the castle and ready to go to Runestone whenever you want.”

Those were excellent news and I knew just how to answer my grandfather’s inquiries “I have several projects in mind that could use some dedicated work that I can’t do myself, like constructing a machine to help make more long-lasting perfumes, I also have an idea for a device that will make sailing as you know it a thing of the past and my most important project to create a substance that could rival the stone that makes up this castle”

Silence followed my declaration until it was broken by the laughter of my father, who had the biggest grin on his face that I had ever seen “I told you he was great just imagine what he could do with a-“

My grandfather raised a hand to stop him and Baelon did but despite the interruption, he was still very happy.

“I hope you know that empty promises are dangerous when made to a king Daemon”

“I haven’t promised youanything but rest assured that I plan to make what I said true, I also hope that you can stop sending spies to my quarters and if you chose to ignore my words at least send women there, as I much prefer that a woman watch me enjoy my wife’s body rather than a man”

My father couldn’t contain himself and once more he showed just how fearless he was as he laughed at what I said to the king.

“You should be very careful Daemon, words can never be taken back and there is a limit to every man’s patience” the dangerous tone in his voice didn’t dissuade me from replaying to his words

“Then I should count myself lucky that my brother doesn’t have an heir and that you need me right now to secure your dynasty, well, as long as you want the throne to remain in Targaryen hands” perhaps it wasn’t wise to remind him that he still had another family he could call for in case he ran out of heirs but I knew that Jaehaerys hated Corlys Velaryon and he would rather die than give the Sea Snake power over Westeros.

“He’s got you there father” Baelon was as brave as his nickname suggested or perhaps he was simply blunt or unaware of the tension but his words made the king’s shoulder sag as he sighed.

“I fear that one day Baleon you will be the death of me, you may leave Daemon I think I need to talk with my heir about how important it is that he respects his king”

I didn’t waste the opportunity to leave even if I did regret not getting the chance to ask about how he had set up his network of spies and what would happen to it once he died but that could wait now I had a very important meeting to attend with the alchemists sadly my plans were interrupted as I found myself colliding with a man carrying a surprising amount of books.

Thanks to my training I merely stumbled back instead of falling on my ass, the other person wasn’t as lucky and soon found himself buried in the books he was carrying.

“You imbecile watch where you’re going!” the man hadn’t even spared a look at me before cursing me and while I couldn’t care less about his opinion or words I had a reputation to maintain.

“Watch your mouth, you’re speaking to a prince of the realm but with the way the books block your eyes I would be surprised if you could see anything beyond your nose”

I finally was face to face with the man and to my utter surprise I could recognize him, it was Otto Hightower, a younger version of the man for sure but I immediately recognized the sigil of his house and the resemblance to the actor he was portrayed by was too great for it to be someone else which was strange since everyone else seemed more like their book counterparts and the shining example of that was my own wife.

“My prince…” Otto lowered his head but I could clearly see that he was angry at the show of submission that he had to play. The sheer arrogance of the man was appalling, more so since he didn’t even have a proper place at court or else I would have heard of it by now.

“Well, aren’t you going to beg for my forgiveness or do the men of the reach not have any honor at all” the sound of gritted teeth filled the silence but before I could drag an apology out of Otto’s mouth one of the kingsguard came to his rescue.

“Ser Otto the king is waiting for you” the man who would one day be hand of the king didn’t waste the opportunity and quickly made his escape but I wouldn’t be forgetting this meeting any time soon and I doubted that he would forget it either.

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Author note: so lots to unpack here, as i put the basics of magic, some lore that fleshes out the reasons of Maegor's lack of heirs, more politicking and just to be funny put Daemon's and Otto 's first meeting as a way to end the chapter. they don't hate each other just yet (and i'm not sure if i want to go the canon way) but they will have a rivalry going on.