c27: The Chase
Thud
The crossbow bolt, flying effortlessly from the darkness of the corridor, pierced straight through the throat of one of the castle guards.
Its sharp steel tip burst out from the back of his neck, gleaming coldly in the torchlight as blood splattered violently across the stone wall.
The guard's eyes widened in shock, as if he could not comprehend the sudden arrival of death inside the halls of Dragonstone.
"Hahhhh"
He tried to speak, perhaps to shout a warning or call for help, but his windpipe had already been torn apart by the bolt. Blood flooded his throat, and only broken, gurgling sounds escaped his mouth.
His trembling hand reached up, attempting to pull the bolt from his neck, but before his fingers could even grasp the shaft, the strength left his body.
Thump
His knees buckled and the body collapsed heavily onto the cold volcanic stone floor.
Viserys stood only a few steps away from the guard. Because of the angle of the corridor, his position was not directly visible from the corner where the attacker was hiding.
However, he had been standing extremely close to the slain man just moments earlier.
They had even been speaking, and the guard had still been smiling.
But in the blink of an eye, scalding blood splattered across the silver-haired boy's clean face.
The sudden violence froze the moment.
Everything had happened so quickly and so unexpectedly that Viserys and the remaining guard both stood stunned for a heartbeat.
However, the surviving guard reacted faster than the young prince.
Through the darkness he caught sight of something—perhaps the faint outline of a figure, or the glimmer of cruel eyes hiding in the shadows of the corridor.
"Enemy attack!"
The guard immediately drew the longsword from his waist with a sharp metallic rasp, grabbing Viserys by the shoulder and pulling him backward.
"Your Highness, run!"
The young guard stepped forward to shield Viserys, placing himself between the boy and the darkness while covering the young king's retreat.
The silver-haired boy, his face still wet with blood, did not hesitate or argue.
He turned and ran.
Bang!
From the darkness, the bowstring snapped tight once again.
Another crossbow bolt shot through the corridor, this time aimed directly at Viserys, who had finally moved into clear view.
Unfortunately for the attacker, Viserys was already sprinting.
A moving target was far harder to strike than a man standing still.
The bolt missed.
It grazed past the boy's head, slicing through a few strands of his silver-gold hair before slamming violently into the stone wall beside him.
Thud
Fragments of stone and dust scattered into the air as the bolt buried itself deep into the wall, its feathered fletching quivering from the force of the impact.
"That was close!"
Viserys felt a cold brush against the side of his ear, followed immediately by a sharp burning pain.
But he had no time to worry about the cut on his face.
His heart was pounding wildly in his chest, terror surging through every nerve in his body.
He only knew one thing
He had to escape.
…
"Damn it!"
"Seven hells!"
Meanwhile, in the darkness of the corridor not far away, the mercenary group that had fired the crossbow saw their second shot miss its target, allowing the young Targaryen prince to escape down the hallway.
Their expressions immediately darkened.
Their mission tonight had been clear: infiltrate Dragonstone during the chaos of the naval battle outside and assassinate the remaining heirs of House Targaryen before loyalists could smuggle them across the Narrow Sea.
Worse still, the dying guard's shout of "Enemy attack!" had likely echoed through the surrounding corridors and towers.
It might already have alerted the other guards stationed inside the Stone Drum Tower, the massive central fortress of Dragonstone where the royal family resided.
Their presence had been exposed, potentially jeopardizing their leader's and his men's plan to assassinate Queen Leila.
"Chase!"
The burly man named Langdon, carrying a heavy battle axe, wore dark red and black mottled leather armor that made him look even more ferocious under the dim torchlight of the castle corridors.
He suddenly stepped out from the shadows and strode forward in pursuit of Viserys.
The entire group of seven sent on this mission were the most capable fighters within their mercenary band. After all, the task they had been given was extremely important, and the infiltration force had to remain small but elite.
If too many men had crossed the sea together, the fleet guarding Dragonstone would have easily discovered them before they ever reached the shore.
Once inside Dragonstone Castle, the seven infiltrators divided into two separate groups. One group of three men was assigned to hunt down Viserys, while their leader personally led the remaining three to assassinate Queen Leila, whose chambers were far more heavily guarded.
In their eyes, sending three seasoned killers to deal with a child prince was more than enough. Their true difficulty would be dealing with the loyal guards protecting the last remnants of House Targaryen.
Langdon strode forward in pursuit of Viserys, but the loyal Dragonstone guard was not about to let them pass so easily.
"Halt!"
The guard stepped forward, holding a round shield in one hand and a longsword in the other, blocking the narrow stone corridor.
His voice rang loudly through the hallway, though a faint tremor of tension could still be heard within it.
"Who are you?!"
Even so, the guard did not turn and run. Instead, he stood his ground, clearly intending to delay them long enough for Viserys to escape deeper into the tower.
Dragonstone had once served as the seat of Rhaegar Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne. Many of the guards stationed here had once served under Prince Rhaegar himself and remained fiercely loyal to the Targaryen bloodline even after the fall of the capital.
Viserys himself did not fully understand how his elder brother possessed such extraordinary charisma that nearly everyone who had met him spoke of him with admiration and respect.
But in his memories, his brother truly had been exceptional—both talented and strikingly handsome.
He remembered once when his brother had taken several boys on an outing into the Kingswood outside King's Landing. During the trip, they were suddenly attacked by a massive wild boar.
Prince Rhaegar, with young Viserys held securely in one arm, had stepped forward calmly and subdued the beast with remarkable grace using only his sword and a single hand.
Yet even after defeating it, Rhaegar did not deliver the final blow. Instead, he allowed the wounded animal to escape back into the forest.
In many ways, the fallen crown prince had become a symbol of perfection in the memories of those who had once served him.
Now, the loyal guards of Dragonstone stood firm rather than fleeing, bravely confronting the assassins in order to buy time for Viserys to escape.
Clang
The well-trained castle guard clashed head-on with the hardened mercenaries who had survived countless brutal battles, facing three enemies alone within the narrow corridor.
Clang
The guard's longsword moved quickly, parrying the blades of two attackers at once as sparks burst from the clashing steel in the darkness.
Then a heavy battle axe swung down from above.
The Targaryen soldier could only raise his round shield in his left hand to block the devastating strike.
The next moment
Thud
Fragments of wood and iron flew as the burly mercenary's axe slammed violently against the shield, the force of the blow so tremendous it nearly split the shield apart.
The Dragonstone guard had not expected such overwhelming strength.
His face instantly turned pale as the impact forced him to stagger backward, his feet slipping on the stone floor.
He nearly collapsed.
But the mercenaries, hardened by lives spent in violence and bloodshed, had no intention of giving him another chance.
Langdon raised the axe again and brought it down with brutal force.
The blade struck cleanly.
Thud
The guard's head separated from his body and rolled across the floor, blood spraying from the neck like a crimson fountain.
The headless corpse swayed briefly before slumping against the wall and collapsing heavily to the ground.
Meanwhile, Viserys had already fled toward the spiral staircase on the third floor of the Stone Drum Tower, the central fortress of Dragonstone.
Gasping for breath, he glanced back over his shoulder just in time to witness the horrifying scene.
The brave guard had bought him precious seconds with his life, yet had been cut down by the ruthless attackers in only a few exchanges.
Seeing the mercenaries charging toward him once more, a chill ran down Viserys's spine.
"Damn it..."
The silver-haired boy clenched his teeth tightly, then turned and ran again, disappearing down the winding stone staircase of the tower.
....