"Fire and Blood" by George R.R. Martin, List 2

He made friends easily, and young girls seemed to dote on him, be they highborn or low.

Afterward he was knighted on the field by his father, who dubbed him with no less a blade than Blackfyre.

In 29 AC and again in 30 AC, Maegor accompanied Osmund Strong and Aethan Velaryon to the Stepstones to root out the Lysene pirate king Sargoso Saan, and fought in several bloody affrays, showing himself to be both fearless and deadly.

Since the days of Old Valyria, it had ever been the custom of House Targaryen to burn their dead, rather than consigning their remains to the ground.

Though he could have made the journey in a few short days on Quicksilver, Aenys preferred to travel by land, accompanied by three hundred mounted knights and their retinues.

The princess had been most loath to be parted from her dragon, Dreamfyre, and her latest favorite, Melony Piper, a red-haired maiden from the riverlands.

Foremost amongst the whisperers was the Dowager Queen Visenya Targaryen.

The new king's mettle would be tested sooner than anyone could have imagined.

“This Vulture King is half-mad, and his followers are a rabble, undisciplined and unwashed,” Lord Harmon Dondarrion wrote to the king.

Whilst the king prevaricated, his lords took to the field. Some acted on their own authority, others in concert with the Dowager Queen.

King Aenys was so pleased by the gift that he offered Greyjoy any boon he might desire.

When Walter Wyl was delivered into his hands, wounded but alive, Lord Orys said, “Your father took my hand. I claim yours as repayment.” So saying, he hacked off Lord Walter's sword hand. Then he took his other hand and both his feet as well, calling them his “usury."

The greatest plaudits he bestowed on his own brother. On his return to King's Landing, Prince Maegor was hailed as a hero.

King Aenys embraced him before a cheering throng, and named him Hand of the King.

The wedding was performed on Dragonstone, under the aegis of the Dowager Queen Visenya.

His father had taken both of his sisters to wife, he pointed out; the strictures of the Faith might rule lesser men, but not the blood of the dragon.

Septon Murmison could no more heal the realm than he could make Ceryse Hightower fecund.

She preferred to spend her days with her siblings, her dogs and cats, and her newest favorite, Alayne Royce, daughter to the Lord of Runestone...a plump and homely girl, but so cherished that Rhaena sometimes took her flying on the back of Dreamfyre, just as she did her brother Aegon.

Thousands of Poor Fellows took to the roads, forcing travelers to declare whether they stood with “the gods or the abomination,” and remonstrating outside castle gates until their lords came forth to denounce the Targaryen king.

When none of the Grand Maester's cures proved efficacious, the Dowager Queen took charge of the king's care, and Aenys seemed to improve for a time…only to suffer a sudden collapse when word reached him that thousands of Poor Fellows had surrounded Crakehall, where his son and daughter were reluctant “guests.”

His widow, Queen Alyssa, sang a dirge for him, and his own beloved Quicksilver set his pyre alight, though it was recorded that the dragons Vermithor and Silverwing added their own fire to hers.

“Let us not bandy words," Maegor told him. “Swords will decide this matter.”

Another claims Ser Garibald of the Seven Stars sang a paean as he fought.

For twenty-seven days Maegor Targaryen lingered at the point of death, whilst maesters treated him with potions and poultices and septons prayed above his bed.

When Maegor appeared on the walls of the Red Keep, standing between Alys Harroway and Tyanna of Pentos, the crowds cheered wildly, and the city erupted in celebration. But the revels died away when Maegor mounted Balerion and descended upon the Hill of Rhaenys, where seven hundred of the Warrior's Sons were at their morning prayers in the fortified sept.

It was said the screams of the burning men could be heard throughout the city, and a pall of smoke lingered over King's Landing for days.

Lord Rupert Falwell, famed as the Fighting Fool, led the ranks of the pious who had answered the High Septon's call; with him rode Ser Lyonel Lorch, Ser Alyn Terrick, Lord Tristifer Wayn, Lord Jon Lychester, and many other puissant knights.

King Maegor's army was of like size, however, and His Grace had almost twice as much armored horse, as well as a large contingent of longbowmen, and the king himself riding Balerion.

All his life Prince Aegon had been considered the heir presumptive to the Iron Throne, but now, suddenly, he found himself reviled by the pious and abandoned by many he had thought to be his leal friends.

As the red stone towers rose, the king commanded the building of a castle within the castle, a fortified redoubt surrounded by a dry moat that would soon be known to all as Maegor's Holdfast.

The fires claimed the lives of Ser Joffrey's father, mother, and young sister, along with their sworn swords, serving men, and chattel.

Atop the Hightower, the great beacon fire turned a baleful green as Lord Martyn Hightower called his banners.

Some say that His High Holiness took his own life, in what was either the act of a craven afraid to face the wroth of King Maegor, or a noble sacrifice to spare the goodfolk of Oldtown from dragonfire.

Others claim the Seven struck him down for the sin of pride, for heresy, treason, and arrogance.

After that, those who remained defiant would find a bounty on their heads: a gold dragon for the head of any unrepentant Warrior's Son, a silver stag for the “lice-ridden” scalp of a Poor Fellow.
The new High Septon did not demur, nor did the Most Devout.

As the Lannisters of Casterly Rock were still reluctant to openly espouse Prince Aegon's cause, his adherents gathered at Pinkmaiden Castle, seat of House Piper.

Nonetheless, many ambitious king's men coveted Black Harren’s mighty seat, with its broad and fertile lands...so many that King Maegor grew weary of their entreaties, and decreed that Harrenhal should go to the strongest of them.

His Grace ordered his mother's body burned, her bones and ashes interred beside those of the Conqueror.

By taking her to wife, Maegor could unite their claims, prevent any fresh rebellions from
 gathering around her, and acquire a hostage against any plots her mother, Queen Alyssa, might foment.

Such hopes were quelled when Queen Tyanna appeared, escorting two young girls with silver hair and purple eyes, clad in the red and black of House Targaryen.