𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 | Ghosts

{ Daenerys }

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𝕿he garden surrounding them was deceivingly beautiful. Tall trees lined the path as it lead them upwards, though Daenerys did not trust it in the slightest.

Kovarro and Jorah walked ahead of her, looking around, shoulders tense and on guard, whilst Coren stayed by her side as he normally was. He was not as tense as the others, and Daenerys often wished to ask him how he managed it. How, in this situation, was he not losing his mind like she felt she was?

"A house of ghosts, Khaleesi. It is known." Kovarro turned back to her, speaking softly as he huffed. That did not make her feel any better as they came upon a large tower, that seemed to fill the skyline ahead of her, rocks guarding the entrance. It was ominous, and perhaps Kovarro was right, maybe there were ghosts circling it, waiting for her to enter. "Where are the guards?"

"No guards." Jorah spoke, as Daenerys looked back at Coren, who was not paying attention. "The warlocks kill with sorcery, not steel."

He noticed her stare, merely shaking his head and Daenerys was reminded that Coren was not adept at the Dothraki language past curse words and occasional sentences. Talks of warlocks and sorcery was most likely not something that he was aware of.

"Let them try." Daenerys turned forward, taking a deep breath as she continued up the stairs until she reached the base of the tower. It was in a courtyard, yet there was no door to be seen, no entry way or directions and no ability to climb it. "Is this a riddle?"

"I do not know." Jorah's eyebrows furrowed, before Coren tensed behind them, causing the mood to shift between the four of them. "Coren?"

But the man was not looking at them, his face had paled and before the trio could reach out to place a hand on the man, Coren was bolting around the corner, like a dog chasing it's prey.

"Coren!" Jorah called, following after him as Daenerys turned the other way, hoping that she would cut him off. Kovarro followed along behind her, a little slower, as Daenerys continued round, hoping to see him or whatever he was chasing. 

Yet, instead of coming face to face with Coren, or Jorah, she blinked and it all went dark. When she opened her eyes again, she was in a stone corridor, a flame flickering by her head and none of the companions were in sight.

"Are you trying to frighten me with magic tricks?" Daenerys called into the darkness, pulling a torch from the wall as she looked for the entrance. Faintly, she could hear Jorah calling for her and Coren. "You want me? I am here! Are you afraid of a little girl?"

A dragon screeched from behind her, and Daenerys turned at the sound. One screech was followed by another and Daenerys' heart stuttered. It sounded like they were in pain, her children were in pain. 

Hiking her dress up, Daenerys hurried down the hall towards the sound. She could only hope that Coren was there when she arrived.

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Daenerys soon found herself at a dead end of sorts, a large door barring her from entry. On the other side of it, she could hear the sounds of screeching, that could only belong to her dragons. Putting her shoulder to the door, Daenerys pushed it open, finding herself in a chamber of doors.

There is a pit beneath her, but she can still hear the dragons screeching. The chamber was echoing, badly so, and she could not tell where the sound originated from. Looking between them all again, Daenerys gnawed on her lips, before choosing the door in the middle of it all, and opening it slowly.

She had not been sure what she would expect when she walked through the door, but it had not been a throne room. She had never seen anything like it before, stained glass windows on the walls opposite, the roof broken in above her and large unlit braziers surrounding columns. Continuing further inward, the torch fell from Daenerys' hand as she looked around, goosebumps forming on her arms at the cold wind. Snow was falling, and Daenerys did not know where she was, until she looked to her left and found a throne.

Despite never having seen it before, it was not hard to recognise the Iron Throne from the stories that her brother, and others used to tell her. It was a little smaller than she expected, and unharmed unlike the rest of the hall. It was calling to her, drawing her towards it and she obliged, climbing the steps and wondering if this is what her father had done when he was supposed to be crowned. 

Her fingers reached out, longing to touch one of the hilts of the swords, wondering whether it would remember her blood, her family, whether it would show her what she should do now.

"I do not understand!" The shout shocked her, and Daenerys whipped her head around, catching sight of Coren. He was not looking at her, instead following after someone else.

"Coren..." Daenerys pulled away, scrambling down the steps as she tried to follow the man, who was seemingly trying to speak with someone, but there was no one else in the room. "Coren!"

"Why will you not tell me what has happened?" Coren's voice was desperate, pleading and begging with whomever he spoke to, but Daenerys could not see anyone. "What are you keeping from me?"

"Coren!" He disappeared through a set of doors, and Daenerys was quick to follow, hoping to catch the man, yet when she stepped out of the doors, she was not in the throne room anymore. Instead, she was in a bleak wasteland, filled with snow and cold winds, something she was not used to. "Coren?"

But the Thorne warrior was nowhere in sight. 

Out of the mist and the darkness, Daenerys caught sight of a tent in the distance, and she stalked towards it, her arms crossed over her chest to keep out the cold. As she entered, her eyebrows furrowed, finding it familiar in a sense. Turning the corner, Daenerys came to a stop, staring at the scene ahead of her. Drogo sat there, holding a small bundle in his arms.

"Moon of my life." Daenerys stopped, unable to believe it. Hesitantly, she stepped closer, her hands trembling for a moment.

"This is dark magic." She whispered, unsure of whether she could touch him, of the bundle in his arms. She could not see the baby but it was moving, and it was twisting. It was alive, her son was alive. "Like the magic that took you from me. Took you from me before I could even..."

She longed to reach out, but stopped a safe distance away.

"Maybe I am dead and I just do not know it yet. Maybe I am with you in the Night Lands."

"Or maybe I refused to enter the Night Lands without you." Drogo countered. "Maybe I told the Great Stallion to go fuck himself and came back here to wait for you."

"That sounds like something you would do." Daenerys finally sat back down, as Drogo continued to speak. She reached for the bundle. 

"Or maybe it is a dream. Your dream, my dream I do not know. These are questions for wise men with skinny arms."

Daenerys' eyebrows grew more furrowed. She did not know what this was. Was it a dream or a nightmare that they were showing her past husband to her? The same husband that she had burned? And her child that had been a monster.

"You are the moon of my life. That is all I know and all I need to know." He pressed his forehead to hers, caressing her face gently, as Daenerys reached the for the bundle. Her son had been a monster. Why was he covered? Why could she not see him? She had to see him, for she have never had the chance to before. "And if this is a dream, I will kill the man who tries to wake me."

Daenerys pulled the blanket away, her eyes going wide. 

It was not a monster, not some beast with leathery wings and disintegrated skin. It did not look like the beast that had been described to her, nor did it looks like all that she had imagined her son to be. Violet eyes stared up at her, white hair appearing on the child's head and Daenerys grew more confused. She did not understand.

What was going on? Who was this child? This was not her child? This was not someone that she knew.

A dragon screeched, drawing her away from it all, as she looked around.

"Tell me who you are!" Coren's voice ripped through the tent, and she pulled back from her dead husband. He was gone and this was not her child, this was not her son.

"Until the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, until the rivers run dry and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves." She recited the witches words, backing away cautiously as she heard the dragons call her once more. "You are not my husband and that is not my child, I do not know you."

Daenerys continued to back away, staring at him. For a moment, his image flickered, confirming her fears as she scrabbled backwards. Instead of Drogo, another sat there, one who's face she did not recognise and she hurried away from it all, stumbling from the tent and back into the House of the Undying.

Finally, the screeching stopped for a moment, and Daenerys let out a sigh of relief at the sight of four of her dragons on the pedestal. They immediately began to call for her, excited that she was there, and she felt her stomach settle. She would know her children anywhere.

Hurrying towards them, Daenerys was quick to hold a hand out to them, scratching at their little heads. Now, all that was left to do was to set them free and find wherever Coren had disappeared to, then she could leave.

"They miss their mother." The voice of Pyatt Pree made her jump, spinning around to watch the sorcerer.

"They want to be with you." There was another clone behind her now, and Daenerys did not like this.

"Do you want to be with them?"

"You will be."

"When your dragons were born..."

"...our magic was born again." They were splitting their words, swapping who was speaking and it was leaving Daenerys' head spinning.

"It is strongest in their presence..."

"...and they are strongest in yours."

"You will be with them, through winter, summer, winter again." A third clone had appeared now. "Across a thousand seasons, you will be with them."

Daenerys began to shake her head, before the sounds of chains clanking stared at her right.

"And we will be with you until time comes to an end." She did not like the sound of that offer.

Twisting, Daenerys made to yank her wrists back, finding them shacked as one of the clones tightened a chain on the other side of her, yanking her arms away from her body. Daenerys hissed in pain, her shoulders already beginning to ache at the feeling of her arms being stretched apart.

"Welcome home, Daenerys Stormborn."

"This is not my home." She disagreed, her dragons calling out for her, as if questioning what was happening. "My home is across the sea, where my people are waiting for me."

"They will be waiting a long time." Pyatt Pree seemed to take great pleasure in telling her that, a smirk forming on his face. A dragon croaked from behind her, but it did not sound scared as the other screams had. The Targaryen woman twisted, turning to look down at her four children, who had now grown quiet. 

Each were watching, eyes unmoving as they stared at Pyatt Pree, who had crouched to peer at them, wondering what they were doing. Daenerys turned back, the start of a smile forming on her face. 

She had often called this quietness the calm before the storm.

"Dracarys." Drogon choked for a moment, coughing out smoke and Pyatt Pree backed away. Drogon tried again, Falkor joining him as fire brushed past Daenerys, setting the sorcerer alight. She smirked for a moment at the sight of it all. What was magic against dragon fire? After all, the warlock was still but a human.

Looking down at Drogon and Falkor, she watched as the chains melted off of their small bodies, her own clinking to the floor as she watched the man burn ahead of her. No one harmed her dragons.

Hiya,

So, Coren's straight up pulling a disappearing act, and you get his pov next chapter of what he's been up to. Dany's just annoyed that she's chasing him around, but she's got her kids back. Also, this chapter is like easter eggs for later things, which i'm super hyped for, so that's why the changes.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx