Frozen Flames: The Saga of the Ice Dragon (Completed)

Birds cawed in the distance. The rush of the Blackwater hummed in their ears. A clear sky graced them, and a pleasant wind whistled among the ranks upon ranks of armored men. A perfect summer day; one made for hunting game, fishing in the river, or riding in the forest.

He could see himself holding a picnic with his family in the middle of a meadow, laughing and drinking, while someone else took care of the running of the Realm. The real Aegon would've been stiff and disapproving, certain a Crown Prince must keep his composure. Jae, Rhaenys, and Daenerys would've teased him endlessly about it, while Elia and Lyanna looked on from an open tent, sipping fine wine and quietly chatting about the gossip of the Court. They would've brought hawks. Jae and Aegon would've challenged the Sword of the Morning to a duel or held an archery competition until exhaustion got the better of them and they surrendered to an evening around the fire, munching on roasted boar as Ser Barristan recounted his greatest deeds or Lyanna told them all about the legends of the North.

Jae heard the laughter in his ears, the warmth of the fire on his skin, his mother's hand going through his air as she whispered about the Others and the Long Night.

He took a shaky breath and looked toward the army on the opposite bank. Thousands will die today, and I'm the one who'll kill them.

Tarly and Fossoway had done their jobs well. They'd stripped the opposite side of the river of trees for nearly half a league to provide wood for the pikes that now jutted into the air in an inverted half-circle line around the ford. Jae's side of the river was bereft of any protection, though for the most part they stood out of range, and the ground slowly rose up higher toward the hill some five hundred yards back.

Rows of Lannister men in their red armor stood straight across the river from Jaehaerys. Aegon's center. Some of them spilled over into the right flank, while Crown and Riverlands Lords made up their left. Jae saw Darry and Tully banners flapping proudly in the air, along with a dozen others.

Thirty thousand men stood at his back and a thousand crossbowmen at his front. Beside the Targaryen and Tyrell banners, Redwyne and Rowan colors featured most prominently of them all.

He'd thought about playing a game of chicken with Aegon, but decided against it in the end. His banners featured a white dragon upon a black field. Let Aegon claim a banner that does not belong to him. It makes the legend of the Ice Dragon only so much more powerful.

Tarly held his left flank, Fossoway his right, each with twenty thousand men under their command. Orys commanded the reserve of thirty thousand. It had been a spirited discussion that decided the matter.

"Your Grace," Orys only let his thoughts known after the rest of the commanders left the Council of War. "Surely it should be you who commands the reserve."

"Quite the opposite, Lord Orys," Jae argued back. "Tywin sees me as a foolish boy wanting to be a hero. When he sees me on the front lines, he will want to take advantage."

"And he may succeed!" Lord Orys looked to the Kingsguard for assistance. "Surely you must agree? It is too risky to have the King fight on the front lines!"

"We obey the King," Ser Barristan said, his voice hollow behind the helm.

"Your Grace," Orys pleaded, throwing a disgusted look at the knights. "Allow me to command the center and you command the reserve. You shall do a much better job than I!"

Jaehaerys took a sip of the delicious Arbor wine. He found he enjoyed the little things far more on the eve of battle. "Let us speak plainly, Lord Orys. You are twice the battle-commander that I am."

Orys reared his head as though he found Jae's words incomprehensible. "Your Grace!" he said. "You've already won two great battles. None could challenge your skill as a commander!"

"Two battles where I held all the advantages. I did not win the battles, Lord Baratheon, I merely failed to lose them."

"But you're the one who decided the tactics for the coming battle!"

"I have," Jae agreed. "And I trust you more than I trust myself to implement them. Remember your father's teachings and trust your instincts. I know you will make the right decision."

Lord Orys' shoulders slumped in resignation, only for a steel resolve to raise him up again. "I will not fail you, Your Grace. On my father's name, I will not fail you."

Jae watched the motionless army across the river and wondered about Aegon's location. Did he hide among the reserves with Tywin? And where was Jamie? Back at King's Landing, or would he advance across the ford in the hopes of killing Jae?

If he were to face Jaime, Jae could only guess at what he'd do. Kill him on the spot, or try to spare him? He knew what he wanted to do, but Jaime Lannister remained one of the deadliest blades in Westeros. Any hesitation when facing him and even Ser Arthur might find three feet of cold steel in his belly.

He looked back at his men. With the exception of the reserve, they all fought on foot, both the knights and the men-at-arms. Four lines of longbowmen stood behind them, ready to unleash holy hell upon the advancing Lannisters, while the crossbowmen at the front took care of the men who reached the palisades. Two lines of pikemen followed them; they'd engage after the Lannister began to break through and the crossbowmen pulled back.

Jae stood behind them, at the front of his ranks, his Kingsguard at his back. Oswell should've been here. He added another member in the last two days. Lord Mertyns' younger son Elmar; a beady-eyed, somewhat chubby youth who looked harmless until he drew a sword. He damn near trashed Ser Barristan. It made Jae smile to remember it.

He saw movement on the other bank and knew the time had come. Time to give his men one last boost, to remind them of the reason they came to fight. He turned around and faced them, his black hair streaming in the wind. "Since I was a young boy, I only dreamed of one thing," he shouted and hoped most of his army could hear him. "To see this Realm united, driven by peace and prosperity."

He paced in the small clearing in the ranks, but he felt their eyes on him, thousands of them. "Today, I place that dream in your hands. I place my hope in the strength of your shields and the swiftness of your blades. Today, you decide what history shall claim tomorrow!

"Today, you decide the legacy you will leave to your children. Even I, a King, rely upon you today more than any man ever has! The strength of your will shall dictate the fates of millions for decades to come." They did not cheer and they did not shout, but their eyes said it all. "So I ask you; will you stand with me today? Will you allow a better future the chance to bloom?" Their screams answered his question. They raised their swords and their axes in the air as one.

He let silence fall upon the ranks again. "Today I ask you to share in my dream, and cut through those traitors to achieve it!" He pointed an accusing finger at the opposite bank, his heart pounding in his chest. "Will you stand with me?!"

"Aye!"

"Will you stand with me?!"

Their answer sounded like a mountain split in two.

Jaehaerys nodded, satisfied he had his men right where he wanted them. He drew Blackfyre and put on his helm as the horn sounded from the Lannister lines and five rows of infantrymen moved forward to test their defenses. Ten thousand men, no more.

They moved in slowly. Jae saw them reach the edge of the river and shouted, "Archers!"

The command moved down the line until it reached Ser Baelor. A hail of arrows took to the sky just as the first of the Lannister men waded into the water and the caultrops Fossoway had placed along the ford claimed their first casualties. Arrows fell like rain upon them. Some glanced off their armor and their shields, but many found their home in the cracks of their armor. "Again!"

The Lannisters waded through the water that reached above their knees as arrows fell down on them in waves. Nasty business. The river turned red and Jae saw the first of the corpses floating downstream. The men pressed tightly around him, a wall of flesh to keep him safe from the oncoming tide.

The crossbowmen unleashed their first volley when the infantry regained solid footing and shaved another couple hundred men off their number. The longbowmen behind them began to loose their arrows at the Lannister footsoldiers at will.

What remained of the infantry charged straight ahead, ignoring the opportunities at the side. They came directly at Jaehaerys in the middle, but he saw they'd lost hundreds just crossing the river. The trenches of pikes halted their charge, allowing his crossbowmen to reload and unleash another volley at them even as they slashed at the pikes in the hopes of forcing a path through them. Creating a path for the second wave.

They forced themselves through whatever little gaps they could find, slashing with their swords to make them wider. They received bolts and spears into their chests for their troubles, but every time one man fell, another sprung forth to take his place and add another couple yards to the path.

And there were still hundreds of them. "Crossbowmen! Retreat!" he called after they unleashed the latest volley. The first of the men had breached the palisades so the crossbowmen could do little good. His men created lines in the ranks, allowing crossbowmen to trickle through them to the back. They would join the longbowmen at the back and randomly fire bolts into the mass of advancing Lannisters.

His pikemen stepped forth to kill any man that made it past the palisades, but it was only a matter of time before the Lannisters won a bridgehead. Jaehaerys stayed in place and saw another knight catch a pike through the neck. The same happened all along the line, but they identified the gaps and raced through them. The sounds of screaming became overwhelming. They would not cease until the armies settled the day's matter.

The men-at-arms had no chance on their own. They would never break them, but Tywin Lannister hardly intended them to. Jae stood behind his men and watched them slaughter lions one by one in front of him, swarming around them, keeping them at distance with their pikes as they poked them full of holes not twenty feet ahead of him.

He heard a trumpet go off on the other bank and the Lannister cavalry sprang forth, the rest of the center on their heels. The whole army will advance. But their flanks stayed put and Jae saw Lord Tywin's plan. He'll march them all in a line. One giant battering ram to break my center.

Arrows whistled above his head as the cavalry reached the water. Crossbowmen couldn't hope to be accurate at such a distance, but they had the range, and a wall of men and horses to aim for. What little chaos the men-at-arms who pushed past the palisades created came to an end; they were either dead or on the run. The eyes of his army turned to the cavalry.

The second volley from the longbowmen fell on them as they reached their bank, and Jae saw hundreds fall. It barely made a dent. Thousands upon thousands of them came on them. The first line of the riders emerged from the water and broke out into a run. Arrows fell on them from every direction, but they did not even glance to the sides.

The earth shook under the weight of their charge – they rode like madmen who knew only speed could save their lives, caring little if they trampled the wounded men from the first wave who tried to crawl to safety.

They waved their swords and their axes through the air, their House words on their lips. Jae watched them come as a single rider broke ahead of the formation. Riding a red courser, he screamed something to his men, pointing his sword at the gap to the right of Jae's position.

Most slowed when the time came to push through the gaps; they had to trickle through the gaps and their formations disintegrated. This madman on the red charger pushed on and burst through the gap at full speed. Jae had no idea how he managed it. He mowed down a half-dozen pikemen when he hit their lines. They killed the horse under him and sent him flying from the saddle into their waiting arms. But he bought the knights behind him some breathing room, and they emerged from the gap with no pikes waiting for them as Jae's men scrambled to fill to the hole in the line.

"Brave man," Ser Barristan muttered.

He grunted in agreement. Dead man.

His shoulders tensed, his grip on Blackfyre strong enough to bend the hilt. It wouldn't be long now; he could not hope to sit back and watch the rest of the battle. The danger of the moment seemed far clearer standing so close to violence without taking part. In the heat of battle, he'd been on guard and in the thick of it. The only people who could kill him were the ones in his immediate vicinity. Now he stood still, waiting for something – anything – that might come flying through the air.

The pikemen lost all cohesion in his center; the continuous stream of mounted knights proved too much and so a bloody melee began. Knights wheeled around, slashing and hacking down at their opponents while pike thrusts emerged from the chaos, searching for gaps in the armor. Some found them, most didn't.

One of his men had the bright idea of using Lannister dead to plug a gap; Jae spied a pike flying through the air just as the latest rider navigated his way through the palisades. He killed the horse beneath him, but the animal fell to the side and flattened more pikes beneath it, creating an even wider path.

His men-at-arms began to enter the fray and Jae found himself only two ranks away from the fighting. They swarmed around the riders and had little compunction in killing the horses if they couldn't pull the knights off them. It didn't stop the bleeding and the riders pushed deeper and deeper into his ranks.

He and his Kingsguard fell into a fighting stance as one; shields in front, their blades resting on them. Ser Arthur in front of him, Ser Loras and Ser Elmar at his sides. Ser Barristan stood guarding his back, for when the true chaos came.

Jae did not bother trying to gauge the rest of the battlefield. He had his plan in place, and he had to trust Orys would make the right decisions. The rest of the commanders knew that any orders that came from Orys had Jae's full approval.

One rank to go, and his Kingsguard took a step forward. They did not mean to wait for the enemy to come to them. Now the foot soldiers came en masse. The gaps had gotten so wide they ran through them in pairs and spread in every direction like water from a dam.

A mounted man split the head of a soldier right in front of them. He got his horse killed under him, but the hole remained and three Lannister footsoldiers rushed through. Ser Arthur's thrust killed the first. Ser Elmar and Ser Loras required two strokes each to dispatch the other two. They did not get a moment's peace, their next assailants already upon them.

Jae looked to the side; fighting erupted all along his rank, the clashes of swords painful in his ears. Still he waited, as Ser Barristan told him to, and trusted his Kingsguard to take care of any immediate threats. But they were the finest swordsmen in the Realm, and the rest of the men along the line were not. They held their ground, but the rest began to give it. Soon, Ser Loras and Ser Elmar had to fend off attackers coming from the side, as well as those to the front.

"Kingsguard!" Ser Barristan thundered. "Step back!" As one they moved. "Another!" and for the moment they rejoined their line. "Square formation!"

Jae exhaled, the noise fading from his ears. At last. Ser Arthur took a step to the left. Ser Elmar stepped forward, and Ser Loras to the back. Now they covered the four corners around Jae as he stepped between Arthur and Elmar.

They did not stand shoulder-to-shoulder, but with some three feet between them to give themselves room to fight. A Lannister knight wielding a mace came running to him. Blackfyre flashed through the air; he cut the man's arm at the elbow and opened his throat with a right slash. Now the fear left him, and he knew only the men in front of him mattered.

The Lannisters identified them, the five men in immaculate white armor, and rushed them. Ser Arthur and Ser Elmar both found three men attacking them, whereas Jaehaerys got two, one right after the other. He caught the firsts blow on his shield and lunged forward. He buried Blackfyre in his chest and ducked on instinct. The swing of the second sailed over his head and he spun on his heel. He did not manage to find the gap between the helm and the neck-brace as the man fell past him, but Blackfyre's blow at his helm rattled his head. He staggered into Ser Elmar who took the weight and threw himself into his opponent shield-first, but Ser Elmar's panic at the attack from behind made him forget about his other remaining opponent.

Elmar turned and elbowed the knight at his back, flooring him. Elmar went for the killing blow, and his other opponent did the same. Jaehaerys sprang forward, cut his sword arm and moved right past him to engage the man who'd recovered from Elmar's shield strike. Blackfyre met some shite Westerland steel, broke through it, and buried itself in his shoulder. It surprise Jae so much he almost didn't get his shield up in time for the next attacker.

The hit jarred his arm and he staggered back to buy himself room, just like Jaime had taught him. He took the next hit on his shield as well and thrust forward. The knight deflected the hit with his shield. Jae went with the momentum and rolled the length of it to his back. He brought Blackfyre down on the back of his knee and heard him cry out as his leg buckled. Instinctively, he hit the back of his head with his shield and sent him sprawling. A stab through his back put an end to the matter.

He looked up. Ser Elmar fought a knight to his right, Ser Loras and Ser Arthur still further beyond. He looked to his left just as Ser Barristan cleaved the head off a common man-at-arms who'd been going for Jae.

"Your Grace, pull back!" Ser Barristan shouted and Jae followed the command. The chaos of the fighting surrounded them and the part of his center with any sort of cohesion stood about thirty feet away. Lannisters gained ground with each second, though they'd expected it. The sheer mass of men that poured through the gaps meant they had to pull back just to give themselves room to fight. But I can't be caught in the chaos when Orys gives the order.

"Kingsguard!" Ser Barristan roared as they slowly backtracked. Jae paid little attention to them; men kept running at him and Blackfyre ran red with blood. As though he took a step away from himself, and ended up an observer as much as any other man.

Blackfyre danced in his hands. No shield, no plate, and no sword could stand in its way. Those who lasted more than five or six swings against him found themselves losing their weapons, and their lives shortly after. Step by step, they pulled back, but he could only measure the distance in how far-off the palisades looked.

They could not touch him. His sword's lightness always made him a touch faster as though he ran a race he could not hope to lose. No opening went unexploited – blood sprayed over his helm after he opened the throat of a Westerland knight, then another put too much force behind his swing and got his leg cut off by the knee when Jae ducked beneath it.

Ser Barristan fought to his left, Ser Arthur took his right and Jae cared very little about what happened to the other Kingsguards. Those who came at the three of them died and they died quickly. Dawn, Blackfyre, and Dark Sister had never been wielded side by side, and they lived up to the legend.

Jae skewered another man and took a step back only to trip over the corpse of a Tyrell soldier. He fell on his back and quickly brought his shield up to stop a mace from bashing his face in. He stabbed blindly past his shield and a grunt rewarded his efforts. On the verge of panic, he scrambled to his feet, slipping on the blood and the guts of the fallen man.

He focused on the man that came at him next, and the man after that. Only when he pushed against something with his back did he realize how far back they had moved. He nearly killed a terrified Tyrell man-at-arms but stopped himself in time when he saw the ranks that still held formation.

Ten thousand of the men in his center had yet to see battle, by his best estimate. He looked forward; the pocket behind the palisades grew larger with every moment. How many Lannisters have rushed in? Twenty thousand, thirty? The fighting raged as far as he could see, and beyond the chaos, more Lannister men were reforming in front of the palisades. Some Riverlords, too. He imagined the left flank was right behind them. Orys will have to give the order. Soon, very soon.

"Let the King through!" Ser Barristan screamed and the Tyrell shield-wall parted for long enough to let Jae pass. He looked back. Ser Loras and Ser Elmar followed in right after Arthur and Barristan. Good.

There was little point in taking part in the fighting for the moment. Tywin had seen them in the thick of it, he'd assume they meant to stay there for the rest of the battle. They passed through the ranks of Tyrell, Redwyne, and Rowan knights and men-at-arms, all of whom gazed upon Jae's blood-splattered and muddy armor as though they found it to be the most magnificent sight they'd ever seen.

Lucas came riding up toward them when they emerged from the back of Jae's center, holding flagons of water, Jae's banner, and welcome news.

"Lord Orys says Lord Tywin and the reserve have advanced as well, Your Grace," Lucas told them as they walked on, to the designated spot some two hundred yards back. Jae took off his helm and looked back but couldn't see anything. Orys had to know, he waited atop the rise. "He begs report he'll give the order the moment Lord Tywin commits his forces."

Jae nodded and took a sip of the water, though desperate to catch his breath. "One last maneuver to execute and the day is ours," he told his Kingsguard.

"Aye, Your Grace," Ser Barristan said, the other three too busy drinking to answer.

"Right here," he said as he came to a stop, at the beginning of the incline that began the rise to the top of the hill where Lord Orys stood. Lucas nodded, lifted the banner, and planted it in the ground.

"Your Grace, I—" the boy began.

"I won't hear a word of it," Jaehaerys said, giving the boy a look to let him know there would be no discussion. "Ride back to Lord Orys and stay there. That's an order from your King, so I expect you won't try to hide among other men to join the fighting, will you?"

"No, Your Grace." The boy nodded, properly chastised.

"Good, now go."

The boy bowed in his saddle and rode off. They heard a horn sound in the distance. Their position gave them a better view now, and they saw the mass of Lannister and Riverland men advance on the chaos before them at the double time.

The reaction was instant. Men engaged in single-combat turned and ran back to the safety of their lines, while those who stood too close ended up cut down. Wait for it. Let them truly commit.

He watched the wave of men move deeper into the pocket. Tywin's master plan unfolded before them. Tarly and Fossoway were pressured on the flanks, they could not hope to send reinforcements to the center as Tywin's great battering ram shattered it. He reckoned he could even see the man himself, dozens of knights around him in a sea of footmen. Are you with him Aegon? For your sake, I hope not.

His formations stood about a hundred yards from the oncoming tide when a horn sounded from behind Jaehaerys. Two signals went up, from the Redwynes and the Rowans. The traitors.

His center tucked tail and ran. Little by little, at first. The Rowans and the Redwynes stood at the very back and the trickle of men quickly became a flood. The men standing in front of them looked back to see their brothers-in-arms lose heart, and followed.

That's what Tywin and the Lannisters saw. The soldiers sprinted away from the danger, away from the fighting, straight to Jae. He put on his helm and got ready for slaughter.

Jae looked past them; when the front lines broke before them, a mighty cry erupted from the Lannister men and they broke formations, drunk on victory, to hunt down their fleeing foe. They should've brought the cavalry.

When the first of the fleeing soldiers reached Jaehaerys, they stopped and turned around, creating a new line with Jaehaerys and his banner at the center. They allowed room for the men behind them to pass through and a new formation stacked up like so many bricks. Men ran between the rows and stopped when they found the first gap. From Jaehaerys it spread to the sides, the commanders of individual companies shouting orders to their men. They had no longbowmen anymore, they'd all joined the hand-to-hand fighting, and so could not hope to slow down the frenzied charge of the Lannisters. The second formation was supposed to mirror the crescent shape of the primary formation, but Jaehaerys always had little hope that they could pull it off. We'll have to compensate by charging.

The Lannisters did not see their defeated army reform in the crowd of running men before them. They had their eyes on the men fleeing before them, salivating at the thought of burying their swords in their backs.

The thundering of a charging cavalry brought them out of their reverie, and suddenly they saw the shield wall rising in front of them. Jaehaerys looked to the right and he looked to the left. Orys had split his force in two, and now they thundered down the hill to plug the gaps between the center and the flanks.

The first of the Lannister men came to a stop some fifty yards in front of their lines, but the men behind them did not know the reason for the hold-up, and the mass of men pushed their haphazard new formation another twenty yards closer to Jae. Perfect.

He looked to the side again, where Orys wheeled his cavalry into the Lannisters to cut off their retreat. Gods, they looked so harmless, like two little tendrils reaching forward to pat the Lannister army on its shoulders. Or its arse.

The screams began then, and Jaehaerys saw his cavalry carve through Lannister men. Those at the front of the new formation stood close enough so Jae could see it. They saw the dread that took hold of the Lannisters, the dawning realization that they made a terrible, terrible mistake.

Jaehaerys pointed Blackfyre at them, blood dripping off of it, and screamed at the top of his lungs. "Attack!"

His men ran forward, screaming like wildlings, and Jaehaerys had meant to charge with them, but when the time came, his legs did not move. His Kingsguard sprang forth only to halt when they saw he didn't go with them.

I'm the King now, he sighed, enough of this hero business. They looked to him and exchanged glances. Ser Barristan put an end to their confusion as he nodded and said, "Good!"

Jae watched his men run past him, and none of them questioned it. They smelled victory on the wind and cared little if Jae joined in the slaughter. He looked down the line and saw it hug the Lannisters, his flanks pushing forward to cut off their escape.

He committed his entire army. In the distance, the two wings of Orys' charge already passed one another. One plowed right into the mass of men, while the other continued the curve of its charge, back up the sides of the Lannisters, killing everyone in their way.

He stabbed Blackfyre into the ground and knelt behind it, since sitting on his arse while his army fought seemed wildly inappropriate. He closed his eyes, and thought of Westeros, and what kind of a world the cries, the shrieks of steel-on-steel would buy.

"Your Grace," Ser Loras said. "Permission for myself and Ser Elmar to join the fighting. Ser Arthur and Ser Barristan will keep you safe enough here, but those men might still need some direction."

He nodded. "Go."

He watched them run off, looking past the hilt to see his men push on. Now the tide retreated, and thousands of fishes were left stranded on the ground, pleading for their mothers, and crying until their final gasp.