Chapter 20.1- The Seadragon's Roar

XXXXX- ONE MONTH LATER (Late 108 AC)

It had taken a whole moon to clear the island. Dragons, men , improvised siege engines. It had taken all that and ore for us to be sure that every cave in the island that could sustain a sizable force was emptied and cleared. Some of the caves had been hard to take than others from Daemon’s and Borros’ testimonies. The former participated whenever he was bored, while the latter was at the forefront of every single push. The Stormlanders had loved him as the son of their Lord already. But now there was a level of hero worship that was difficult to put into words. They stopped talking, eyes flicking to him whenever he entered a room. Every flagon of wine they claimed from the pirates, they gave him first refulsal, they celebrated him at every campfire, and yet I could tell that he was far from pleased.

Borros was a simpler man than most imagined so it was easy for me to tell what constantly ticked him off.. It was not the fact that he had to share glory for his achievements, it was who he had to share the glory with that pissed him off so often— while he might have been the first through the breach in any engagement, there was oft a silent specter at his back. Manfred Storm. Borros clearly was not enjoying the notoriety his bastard brother was beginning to enjoy.

Even worse for him, Manfred was— somehow— more personable than Borros was these days. He drank to stupor with the men. He told bawdy jokes with them up until late at night. He was their friend, their steward, one of them. And Borros fucking hated it. It was why I was not surprised that he had walked into my tent tonight. They were celebrating the last cave falling. I was thinking about the castle. Taking it would be a nightmare and a half. And thinking made me want to build.

It was a silly idea, a battery ram that relied on gravity and a counterweight to do more damage than a human crew would ever be able to manage. No, it wasn’t silly because it wouldn’t work. It was silly because I was wholly unnecessary. When the time came, Igneel would smash through the gate with his flames and our men would flood in like water through a hole in a ship. What I wouldn’t give for some wildfire now. Let’s see how that Valyrian stone lasts against good old alchemist flames. Sadly, my idea to get some for the war had been thoroughly shut down by Corlys before we’d even got here, and Rhaenys was even less inclined to listen to the ‘insanity’ I was brewing.