Aegon still couldn't believe that he was a married man. Each morning, he woke up in bed with Gael nuzzling against his body, and still, he couldn't come to terms with the fact that Gael was his wife. He struggled to come to terms with his marriage even as his right arm was wrapped around Gael's waist while his face was resting against her soft silver hair. They were both in bed naked as the day they were born under a pair of warm sheets. Their ship, the Dragon Queen, almost glided through the Narrow Sea with hardly any disturbance.
It was almost as if the gods were keen on ensuring their journey was as comfortable as possible.
"We should be reaching Pentos soon. We should get dressed." Aegon whispered.
"A little more." Gael groaned lazily.
Aegon nuzzled against Gael's neck and pressed a chaste kiss where he could feel her pulse. He started kissing down from her neck to her shoulder, where he pulled down the black silk sheet covering her nubile body.
"Mmm." Gael moaned, her body twitching as his lips left a trail of kisses down her collarbone.
"Come on, Gael. You can rest in a good Pentoshi palace." he said, rubbing her belly with his free hand.
Gael let out a frustrated groan at his incessant nagging and immediately sat up in their shared bed. She held the silk sheet gathered against her breasts and shot Aegon a glare.
"If you hadn't disturbed my sleep, I'd have allowed you a peek under the sheets." Gael said, turning her nose up haughtily.
"Really?" Aegon raised an eyebrow in amusement.
He suddenly sat up and hugged his wife from behind. Gael gasped when his arms wrapped around her and his lips pressed themselves against her earlobe.
"You'd deny your husband his marital rights, my dear wife. How cruel of you." Aegon whispered hotly against her ear, making her body tremble.
As he started kissing down her shoulder blades and slowly started to pull down the black cloth covering her silky skin, someone knocked on the door.
"My prince, we have seen land."
The playful mood he was in suddenly disappeared.
"Thank you, Ser Reginald." he shouted back.
Aegon let out a disappointed sigh as he withdrew his hands from under the silk sheets covering his wife's body.
"We'll have all the time in the world in that palace you were talking about." Gael said coyly as she gathered the sheets to her body and slinked out of the bed, to his displeasure.
Aegon let out a frustrated groan and jumped out of bed while Gael broke out into peals of laughter at his obvious frustration.
They dressed in fine silks and leather and joined the crew on the deck in good time.
It was the first time Aegon cast his eyes on the city of Pentos, and even from a distance, he felt like it was stunning. But at the same time, the city gave off the feeling of a great legacy and ancient presence. The towering square brick towers jutting out into the sky over the massive curtain wall he could see in the distance. The city harbour he could see from the ship's deck was massive, with numerous ships lining up as far as his eyes could see to the north and south. There were a lot of fishing boats and merchant vessels, but there were also war galleys like the three ships under his command anchored at the harbour.
"The harbour is massive. It is larger than the one in King's Landing." Gael commented, taking in the massive city with wide eyes.
"The merchants and travellers of the Freehold built Pentos two thousand years ago. Of course, it will outstrip King's Landing." said Aegon.
"Do you think Pentos also has a larger harbour than Braavos?" Gael asked curiously.
"I do not know. It is said the Braavosi have multiple harbours spread along their many islands." Aegon shrugged his shoulders.
While he had read many things about the Free Cities of Essos as part of his education, he had never visited any of them. He only had second-hand accounts of maesters and other travellers to go by.
As their ships neared the harbour, Aegon saw Fiendfyre and Dreamfyre circling the city high in the sky. But he was not the only one to notice the presence of their dragons.
"How did they…? How did they know to come here in advance?" Gael gasped, staring at the dragons in utter surprise.
"They know more about us than we know about them when we bond. It takes a lifetime for a rider to learn about their dragon, but it only takes a dragon a heartbeat to know almost everything about us." said Aegon, never taking his eyes off the two dragons.
He had been afraid when Fiendfyre and Dreamfyre took off into the sky as they crossed the Narrow Sea. He feared Fiendfyre would attack Dreamfyre, but the black dragon seemed to have overcome its cannibalistic appetite. Aegon had no idea how long that'd hold, but he hoped Fiendfyre would keep a lid on his desire for dragon flesh.
"Is that true?" Gael asked in wonder.
Aegon was broken out of his musings by Gael.
"Of course, it is true. There are many things you need to learn about dragons, Gael."
"How fortunate I am to have found a husband who can educate me on such matters." Gael said coyly, leaning into his side while batting her eyelashes at him playfully.
"Indeed. You'll need to know a lot more about dragons, and you'll need to train with me in dragon-riding tactics." Aegon grinned at his wife.
"You have only recently started to ride dragons. How did you become an authority in dragon-riding?" Gael asked skeptically.
"I haven't. I'll be training with you as well. We'll learn – together." said Aegon.
"You're so sweet." Gael smiled as she said that while pressing a kiss to his cheek.
They stood on the deck with Aegon wrapping his right arm around Gael's waist as they watched the city harbour drawing ever closer as the Dragon Queen, the Seastorm, and the Swiftwind sailed through the open seas.
****
The city of Pentos was vast but not as large as King's Landing. Looking around at what he could see, he saw that the city was not well-defended either.
Aegon's eyes searched for the natural defences of a city, but he couldn't find any. The towers he had seen from the sea were inside the city and not along the walls as he had assumed. He had the feeling that these towers were not arrow towers because they lacked any battlements and arrow loops. They were just fancy towers that served as fine holdings of wealthy magisters of Pentos.
It became more apparent that Pentos sparingly gave any focus in defence of their city when he noticed the city only had one curtain wall. All the buildings inside the city walls remained hardly defensible. There were no defendable walls or structures like gatehouses, drawbridges, moats, etc. The sole defensible part of the city was the harbour, which had a curtain wall that dwindled across the rest of the city. It was as if the Pentoshi were the least bit bothered with their city's defences. He couldn't see any hills further east of the city to suggest any natural defences. But hopefully, some caves or lakes provided natural defensive cover for the city.
These thoughts passed through his mind as Magister Yraedar Agtalos escorted Aegon and Gael into the city's interior.
"Prince Taedor is most eager to host you for however long you may desire, Prince Aegon." said Yraedar Agtalos, sitting across from Aegon in the wheelhouse as they passed through the city's paved streets.
The Pentoshi magister was a simpering yellow-haired man dressed in fine silks and gold ornaments aplenty to show off his wealth. He was bald with a few turfs of red hair on his otherwise gleaming round head. The man had a neatly trimmed beard that shone an eerie copper colour.
"I shall convey our gratitude to Prince Taedor in person." Aegon said, giving the Magister a gracious smile.
"Prince Taedor has invited you and the princess to dine with him in his palace tonight. In celebration of your arrival to our beautiful city, he is hosting a feast tonight, and you and your lady wife will be the guests of honour." Magister Yraedar said excitedly.
"We will be honoured to attend the feast, Magister Yraedar." said Aegon with a respectful nod.
"Magister, may I ask whether we'll have enough space to house our dragons?" Gael asked.
"Of course, princess. Your palace was once assigned to Prince Maegor during his stay in our city. The palace grounds will have more than enough space for your dragons to comfortably rest."
When the wheelhouse finally came to a stop, it was on the grounds of a lavish palace mostly made of white marble. Acres of land sprawled out from the palace, much of it covered in greenery, like grass and a beautiful garden. Close by were stables that hosted some horses, and servants waited diligently at the entrance with their heads bowed.
Aegon's eyes fell on the collars around the necks of the servants, which made him uncomfortable.
'Slaves.' he thought with a grimace.
This was one of the reasons why he considered Braavos a better place to settle, even though it was not as attractive as Pentos. Slavery was a reality and a major source of revenue in the Free Cities, except in the Bastard Daughter. He supposed he'd have to live with the disgusting practice for the remainder of his stay in the city. After all, he was not here to enlighten the Pentoshi about morality and order them how to live their lives.
"Shouldn't these grounds suffice for your dragons, Prince Aegon? There is a large stable built behind the meadows, which once housed the Black Dread. We can construct another for Princess Gael's dragon in short order. I've already dispatched workers to build a similar stable for the Princess' dragon." Magister Yraedar said.
"This will do, Magister." said Aegon.
Closing his eyes, he concentrated on Fiendfyre and tried to project his thoughts to his dragon circling the sky. When he heard a distant screech, Aegon opened his eyes to see Fiendfyre diving, followed by Dreamfyre. Both dragons landed on the ground with their wings spanning wide. The ground trembled as their hind legs properly touched down, and their talons dug deep into the earth.
The Magister and the servants were now conveniently standing a few paces away from them while staring at their dragons in abject terror and awe.
"The dragons will need sustenance. They are quite picky when it comes to what they eat. They…" Aegon started.
"Prince Aegon, everything has been arranged with the servants." Magister Yraedar said, almost in a hurry, as he nervously eyed the dragons, "Please, you need not worry about any of this. Please take some rest form your long journey. Surely, your voyage must've been taxing."
Aegon exchanged a look with Gael. Seeing her nod, he decided to charge the household guards and servants who came with him from Westeros. He and Gael immediately freshened up in a hasty bath the servants prepared. While Gael went ahead to explore the palace and make quick friends with the Pentoshi servants, Aegon went ahead to check on the dragons.
He found Fiendfyre roasting a few pigs with his flame before munching on the cooked flesh with great gusto. The Dragonkeepers warily stood at a respectable distance from his dragon as they were afraid of getting on the wrong side of Fiendfyre's temper. Unlike the other dragons in the Dragonpit, Fiendfyre hadn't grown accustomed to the presence of the Dragonkeepers.
"My prince." the Dragonkeepers bowed low when they noticed his presence.
"How is he doing?" Aegon asked, coming to a stop beside the Dragonkeepers and watching Fiendfyre gorge himself on a couple of pigs.
"Fiendfyre has not acted hostile so far, my prince. He seems to like these pigs more than their Westerosi counterparts." Talos, the lead Dragonkeeper said.
"I see." Aegon hummed, staring at the pigs with black skin and large dropping ears. "Are these Pentoshi pigs?"
"No, my prince. The servants claim they were brought from Volantis." said Talos.
"I see. Where is Dreamfyre?" Aegon looked around for the mount of his wife.
"She has made herself comfortable in the pond behind those trees, my prince. A couple of Dragonkeepers are keeping watch over her." said Talos, pointing to a group of trees in the distance.
Aegon squinted his eyes at the trees, and a spark of recognition came forth when he realised the trees were familiar. There were a couple of small coconut trees with distinct orange hues to them. Then, a couple of huge jackfruit trees made Aegon scratch his head in thought.
'Does Pentos have a tropical climate?' Aegon wondered.
Nonetheless, he walked all the way across the palace grounds and found the pond Talos was talking about. Sure enough, there was a sizeable pond with stone paved steps on the sides. But the water in the pond was dark green, showing that it needed some dredging before it could be used safely. But Dreamfyre was unbothered by such concerns and enjoying herself a bath in the pond. The blue dragon swept her tail in the pond and doused him with a lot of sand and water.
Aegon just closed his eyes and slowly wiped away the wet sand sticking to his face. When he looked at his wife's dragon, he had the distinct impression that Dreamfyre did that purposefully and was laughing at his misfortune.
"I see why you bonded with Gael. You're a troublemaker like her, aren't you?" Aegon muttered, remembering the time when Gael covered the bottom of his shoes in oil, which made him slip and fall.
Dreamfyre let out a snort from her snout and dipped into the pond with only her eyes and large silver horns visible above the water's surface. Letting out a sigh, he returned to the palace to get changed into a new outfit now that Dreamfyre had made his clothes dirty.
****
Aegon smiled indulgently at a random compliment paid by Prince Taedor Dalralis as the ball thrown in their honour progressed. Several half-masked guests danced in the ballroom of the Pentoshi Prince's palace. He had been smothered by the guests with many rounds of compliments for his marriage and his arrival in Pentos. Gael was, of course, paid the same compliments by the Prince's guests. The last he saw of his wife, she was in the company of a gaggle of Pentoshi noblewomen.
The conversation then turned to trade, where the magisters and wealthy merchants of the city pitched in with their latest hauls in silver. All of them claimed great profits in their particular trade. Magister Adervys claimed he made three thousand silver from selling slave girls to various pleasure houses. Magister Amisarys claimed he made five thousand silver by selling Myrish glass in Braavos.
On and on, there were claims of increased trade, wealth, and profits as each magister and merchant tried to outperform each other. It was like he was in the middle of an auction, and everyone was after the position of the imaginary post of the soundest merchant in Pentos.
While Aegon disliked the topic of conversation, it was nonetheless informative. He got a tentative picture of who engaged in what trade and who had businesses with which Free City. He also knew who to find if he needed more guards, as there were quite a few magisters running businesses procuring Unsullied soldiers from the slave city of Astapor. While owning a slave was not on his list of to-do-things in Essos, he could grant them freedom. It was a far better future than living and dying as a slave. However, such measures were only the last resort if his plans to form a sellsword company didn't pan out as hoped.
He politely declined a glass of wine offered by a servant. He was tempted to take the wine to wet his sore throat, but he was warned beforehand by Ser Reginald to never accept any drinks without being tested beforehand for poison. After all, the Free Cities used a different kind of court politics than Westeros. Here, grudges were settled using catspaws and poisons.
He looked around to look for Ser Reginald and found the knight farther away in the hall, keeping a close eye on Gael. That relieved Aegon because he had no idea who those women were or anything about their background. Then he searched for his friend Jon in the hall.
After searching for a while, he found Jon Tarth dancing with a masked woman.
'I hope that woman is not a wife or daughter of some wealthy Magister.' Aegon thought, knowing the proclivities of his friend.
He couldn't spend much time observing his friend and wife as he was immediately invited back into socialising with some of the major spice merchants and ship owners of Pentos. After all, they were quite familiar with him in his short stint as Dragonstone's castellan. He had spoken with many of them either directly or through proxies. His judicial use of tax concessions and port duties in Dragonstone made him many friends in Pentos. Most of them wanted assurances their trade with Dragonstone wouldn't be hampered in his absence.
But such conversations came to a halt when Prince Taedor came to his side with a palpable excitement.
"Aegon, come. I want to introduce you to another popular figure in Pentos. I told you that I knew of your coming in advance. This is the woman who prophesied your coming to my beautiful city."
Aegon frowned at the Pentoshi prince as the man led him out of the hall and towards an open balcony. He could see Ser Reginald stand and look to follow him, but Aegon shook his head and silently urged the knight to keep his eyes on Gael.
"I frankly thought you were being a gracious host and being humble about your magnanimity in preparing the palace on short notice." Aegon said as they walked out of the hall into the adjoining balcony guarded by a couple of Unsullied guards.
"Ah! I understand the confusion, Aegon. But I was advised by this friend of mine about you a month ago. She predicted your arrival to Pentos and asked me to prepare the palace."
"How did this friend of yours..." Aegon started sceptically.
"I knew about this meeting since the moment you were knighted Prince Aegon." A lady dressed in a glittering red dress spoke gently as he arrived at the otherwise vacant balcony.
The lady in the red dress had her back turned, and he could see her hair was fiery red. But the most striking thing he saw was a globe of fire hovering over the woman's right-hand palm. Her ludicrous claim aside, he became interested in the woman because she displayed the same affinity he had with the fire element.
"A pyromancer!" Aegon said with wide eyes.
This was one of the things he was looking forward to during his stay in Pentos. Since he was out of Westeros and away from the eyes of the Faith, he could explore the intricacies of magic without looking over his shoulder.
"Meet Yelena, the High Priestess of the Red Temple." Prince Taedor said enthusiastically.
But that piece of information only put Aegon on guard. The Red Priests were known in Westeros as fire-worshippers, and they supposedly engaged in human sacrifice to please their Red God. At least, this was the perception that the septons and maesters had spread in Westeros.
But the High Priestess didn't remotely look like what the septons claimed all the Red Priests looked like at all. The septons in Westeros whispered of dark sacrificial magic, twisting the flesh of the fire worshipers of the east. They spoke of dark demons emerging from the depths of seven hells and corrupting the skin of their worshippers to look like they were decayed. The septons spoke of black veins on the Red Priest's body as their blood was drained by the demons and filled with black magic. The most often claims spoke of the soul being devoured by the demons, and as a result, the Red Priests have their face become a hollow husk and their eyes a fiery red akin to the flames of hell.
But Aegon saw nothing of that sort when High Priestess Yelena showed her face to him. The Priestess was a young woman of the same age as Gael in looks. She had cream skin that glowed almost eerily in the night. Her eyes were hazel brown, and Aegon wondered how he could clearly see the colour of her eyes during the night. Then, there was that shiny ruby necklace on her neck that gleamed eerily. He could feel a sense of great power from the Priestess, which was almost similar to that time when he bonded with Fiendfyre.
"I have seen you in the flames, Aegon Targaryen. The Lord of the Light has many plans for you." Yelena said, staring at him as if she had already seen everything that was to be.
While Aegon was reconstructing some of the age-old biases instilled in him by the septons, he got the feeling these Red Priestess and her Lord of the Light fellow were trouble. But he was also reminded of the advice from his grandfather.
'Even those we consider our enemies have their uses. So, be on guard around those you consider your enemies, but always be ready to use them to your advantage.'
AN:
To read ahead of the update schedule;pat(r) eon. C (O) M/Dragonspectre
For artworks: https://discord.gg/Nw2JH25fJf