Chapter Text
Dunk stood in front of the Targaryen princes in Ashford Castle, trying to stammer out the right words but all he could think about were the beads of cold sweat dripping down his back and the warm flush spreading across his cheeks. He just wanted to explain himself without looking like a fool, but he didn’t seem capable when standing in front of the intimidating heir to the Iron Throne, and his irritable but handsome brother.
There was something about these men that filled him with intense nerves. Prince Baelor was so regal, and when he fixed his mismatched violet and brown eyes upon Dunk it felt as if he was being pinned in place, every thought visible on his face. Prince Maekar on the other hand, Dunk wasn’t sure what it was but there was something about that man that was drawing him in. It wasn’t just his beautiful face, although gazing upon it did make Dunk blush pink from his neck up. All he’d seen from the younger prince so far were harsh words and a fiery temper, but that wasn’t enough to put him off. Dunk’s eyes kept drifting towards him almost against his will.
“You wish to enter the lists, is that it?” Prince Baelor saved him from further agonising with his question.
“Yes,” Dunk breathed, hardly daring to hope.
Baelor fixed him with an intense stare, and then glanced towards the man to his right. “The decision rests with the master of the games, but I see no reason to deny you.”
“As you say, my lord.” Plummer nodded at Dunk with a slight smile, and Prince Baelor turned back to Dunk, a kind expression in his two toned eyes.
Dunk’s heart pounded, he was scarcely able to believe his ears. He opened his mouth to thank Baelor, trying to scramble for words that could express the level of his gratitude, but he was cut off abruptly by Prince Maekar.
“Very well Ser you are grateful, now fuck off.”
Dunk swallowed his words and took an involuntary step backwards, shame burning through his stomach. He understood that he was taking up the prince’s time with his idiotic ramblings, he knew they shouldn’t have any reason to be talking to a hedge knight in the first place, but the words still stung. Especially coming from the prince that had so captured his attention.
“You must forgive my brother Ser, his sons went astray on the way here and he fears for them,” Prince Baelor gently told Dunk. His eyes softened as he saw the obvious hurt in Dunk’s eyes turning to concern.
“I'm sorry to hear that, your grace,” Dunk said softly. “Is there anything I can do to help? I can search for them if needed.” The words were out of his mouth before he'd even thought about it, but he didn't regret offering his help. There was something in him that desperately wanted to put a smile on Prince Maekar's surly face.
“I’m not sure we need to send out a search party just yet,” Maekar said with a roll of his eyes. “Daeron is probably hiding in some tavern drinking himself into a stupor as always. I wish that boy would have even a single shred of honour.” His violet eyes darkened, his frown deepening.
Dunk nodded in response, but his thoughts were drifting. He could feel something important trying to force its way into the front of his mind, some clue that he’d missed. Something about the tavern…it was on the tip of his tongue. He glanced back to Maekar and as blue eyes met violet, something suddenly stirred in his memory.
“Wait a moment…” he murmured, and the attention of both princes suddenly sharpened. “I stayed at an inn the night before I arrived at Ashford. There was a man…he wore a cloak and hood, but I think his hair was long and pale.” Maekar sat slightly forward in his seat, attention fixed on Dunk. Dunk felt his heart speed up, and tried his best to get his words out. “He was awfully drunk… he told me he dreamed about me.”
At this, Baelor and Maekar looked at each other in triumph. Maekar turned back to Dunk, his words now with a frantic tinge to them. “And Aegon? Was there a young boy with him? He's but nine years old.”
Dunk frowned, thinking back to that night. “No, your grace, he was alone. The only boy I saw was…” Dunk tailed off, suddenly feeling like a bucket of cold water had been poured over him. Egg was of that age. And he didn’t know if Egg had blond hair, because it was shaved off. He couldn’t breathe, chest feeling constricted and sweat on his palms.
“What is it? Did you see him or not?” Maekar asked with an air of desperation behind the irritation.
“Take a breath, Ser.” Baelor said softly, clearly trying to inject some calm back into the situation.
“I’m sorry, your Grace. It’s just, I think I know exactly where Prince Aegon is. There was a boy at the inn, he was about the right age, if a bit small for his age. But his hair was completely shaved off…” At this Maekar sighed heavily, and muttered “Daeron,” under his breath. “He said he was a stable boy, asked if he could be my squire for the tourney. I told him no, and I left without him. But when I went back to my camp last night, Egg was there cleaning my clothes and tending to my horses.”
Maekar’s eyes widened slightly. “He’s here? At Ashford? But how…?”
“When I asked him how he got here, he said he travelled in the back of a lamb cart,” Dunk said hesitantly, hoping desperately that Maekar didn’t think Dunk kidnapped him.
“For fuck’s sake, that boy will be the death of me,” Maekar muttered darkly. “Why am I not surprised at all? When I get my hands on Daeron…” he tailed off thunderously.
Dunk wavered, unsure if he should speak or not, but then his courage won out.
“If it please your Grace, perhaps I could bring Egg- er, I mean Aegon, Prince Aegon to you now? He’s at my camp at the moment. I’m sure you would like to be reunited.” Dunk spoke earnestly, unable to tear his eyes away from Prince Maekar’s face.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Prince Maekar spoke with absolute authority, “I’m going with you to your camp, we will collect Aegon, bring him back to the castle, and then you will take me to this inn you speak of. Daeron will come back with us whether he likes it or not.”
Dunk gaped at him, blue eyes wide with shock. Was this really happening, or was this whole conversation a crazy fever dream? Prince Maekar couldn’t possibly be serious, could he? Dunk from Fleabottom, riding out with a crown Prince? But the steely look in his violet eyes told the true story. Dunk realised that the man would stop at nothing to make sure his sons were safe, no matter what he said about them and their rebellious streaks.
“Brother, are you sure this is wise?” Baelor interjected, “you could send someone-”
“Absolutely not,” Maekar growled, “I will fetch my sons myself and see with my own eyes that they are safe. And then I will punish them as I see fit.”
“How far is this inn?” Baelor asked Dunk softly.
“About a day’s ride, your Grace. But I reckon if we rode hard we could make it by sundown.”
“In that case, Ser Duncan will miss half the tourney if he rides off with you now”. Baelor turned his eyes to his brother. Dunk hesitated, terrified to contradict the heir to the throne but needing to speak his part.
“Begging your pardon, your Grace”, he interjected carefully, “but I’d much rather spend my time bringing Prince Maekar’s children back safely than see the tourney.”
“You see, Baelor? The boy has his priorities straight,” Maekar said with an air of finality. Baelor looked like he wanted to interject, but he remained silent.
Dunk gulped, eyes flicking between the two brothers as they had the kind of silent conversation that’s possible between people who have known each other all their lives. After a few tense moments it seemed a decision had been made, as Maekar turned triumphantly back to Dunk with a somewhat manic gleam in his eye.
“You, Ser Duncan, are going to take me to your camp, immediately. We will bring Aegon back to be left under the watchful eye of his uncle, and then we will ride out with a few guards to this godforsaken inn to collect my idiot firstborn.”
Dunk nodded mutely, left with no option but to follow Prince Maekar out of the castle and down towards the tourney grounds. A couple of guards tailed behind them, and if they were confused at where they were headed they didn’t show it on their faces. Dunk let out a long breath, thinking that he really had got himself into a pickle this time. Why did trouble always seem to find him?
The walk was a silent, somewhat awkward affair. Dunk kept glancing sideways at Maekar, still unable to keep his eyes off him for longer than a few seconds. He could feel the prince’s heat next to him, sense his imposing presence. Maekar didn’t look back at him, however. He strode onwards with a steely expression on his handsome face, focused only on reaching his son.
As they reached the very outskirts of the sea of tents, however, Maekar turned to Dunk with a questioning expression on his face. Dunk flushed dark red under the scrutiny.
“My camp is just over there, your Grace,” he said quietly, gesturing towards the elm in the distance that he had chosen to shelter under. Maekar fixed him with a withering look.
“You mean my son has been sleeping under a tree?”
“Er, yes, your Grace.” Dunk felt the blush deepening, if that was even possible.
“Fucking perfect,” Maekar muttered under his breath.
A few tense moments later they came to the camp, and Dunk could see Egg turned away from them, brushing down Thunder. A small part of him felt guilty about getting Egg in trouble with his father, but at the same time he was feeling pretty hurt that Egg had lied to him. To think that he’d been camping with a prince of the realm this whole time! He felt so stupid for not realising something was wrong before. Now that he thought about it, Egg certainly didn’t talk like someone who was low born.
Before he could think on it any longer, they had reached camp and Maekar was shouting “AEGON! GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!”. Egg jumped about a foot in the air and turned, staring in abject horror at his father. He then turned to Dunk with a mixture of shock and betrayal, and Dunk tried to give him an apologetic smile that turned into more of a grimace.
“Father, what- what are you doing here?” Egg asked quietly, his voice small and clearly terrified.
“What the fuck do you think I’m doing? I’m bringing you back to your family,” Maekar snarled at him. “It should be me asking you that question. What are you doing here, sleeping under a tree with a fucking hedge knight?”
Dunk felt his heart sink a little at the words. Another reminder of how far below the prince he was, how he shouldn’t even be in the presence of such royalty. He had definitely done the right thing, there was no way Egg- Prince Aegon should be spending any time with the likes of him.
“How did you find out?” Egg asked Dunk desperately. There were tears welling up in his big blue eyes, and Dunk suddenly noticed the hint of violet in them.
“I put two and two together, after speaking with Prince Maekar and finding out that two of his sons were missing,” Dunk said roughly. “Egg, why did you lie to me? Did you think it was a big joke, stringing along a stupid hedge knight into believing your stories?” Dunk felt his throat tightening, and hoped to the gods he didn’t start to cry in front of Prince Maekar. It was one thing for Egg to get upset, but he couldn’t show such weakness himself.
“I didn’t mean to, Ser, I just wanted to be a squire so much, and Daeron refused to leave that stupid inn. I swear, I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.” Egg cried, his lower lip pouting and his big blue eyes looking all the bigger with the tears. It was hard to stay angry at the boy, when he looked up at him like that. He was saved from trying to pretend to be angry by Prince Maekar interjecting.
“Of course you knew you were doing something wrong, that’s why you lied to the poor man. Apologise to him, now.” Maekar looked sternly down at his son, eyebrows furrowed above stormy violet eyes. Dunk gaped at him in shock, and his stomach swooped. Did Prince Maekar really just stand up for him like that? Maekar glanced up at Dunk, and as their eyes met Dunk felt goosebumps rise all up the back of his neck and down his arms. The moment was over far too quickly, however, as Maekar turned back to his son with an irritated expression.
“I’m sorry, Ser Duncan,” Egg said softly. “I really am, I never meant to upset you.” Dunk looked hard at him for a moment, then he put him out of his misery.
“You’re forgiven, Egg- I mean, Prince Aegon.” Egg’s face soured at the use of his correct title, but he wisely chose not to mention it while his father was staring down at him with barely disguised anger.
“Enough. Aegon, you are coming back with me to the castle. Then myself and Ser Duncan are riding out to bring your wretched brother back here where we can watch him.”
“You’re riding out together? But what about the tourney, Ser Duncan?” Egg gasped, looking at Dunk with apprehension. “Father, are you making him go with you as punishment for stealing me away? I swear it was my fault, he didn’t know-”
“Shush Egg, no one is making me do anything,” Dunk interrupted quickly, before Maekar could become even more enraged, “and it isn’t a punishment. It’s an honour for me to ride out with your father.”
Egg looked like he was going to argue, but he was stopped by Prince Maekar.
“I said enough, we must head back to the castle now or we won’t make it to the inn by nightfall,” he said irritably. He began to walk towards the castle without looking back to see if they would follow. Dunk and Egg glanced at each other quickly, falling into step behind him. The guards followed, and they all made quite the eyecatching group walking through the tents back towards the castle. People stopped and stared at the prince being accompanied by a giant hedge knight and a bald young squire. Dunk did his best to ignore the stares, walking along with his head held high, focusing on Prince Maekar’s back to ground him.
Before long, they were back in Ashford castle. Lord Ashford and Plummer had left, and the room felt a lot more intimate with just the Targaryens and Dunk. He felt out of place, as if he should give them privacy, but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself so he just stood and quietly observed. He felt a warm presence beside him, and realised that Prince Maekar had come to stand next to him. Dunk let out a shaky breath, goosebumps rising on the back of his neck again. Why was he so affected by Maekar? It was like his body yearned to be closer to the man. Before he could stop himself he glanced sideways at the prince, eyes raking over his sharp cheekbones and piercing violet eyes. Maekar, perhaps sensing Dunk’s gaze, turned to look at him and Dunk quickly shifted his eyes back towards Baelor and Egg before he could be caught staring at the prince, a faint blush on his cheeks.
Prince Baelor looked down at Egg, an inscrutable expression on his face. Egg looked up at him, big blue eyes swimming with tears again. Without a word, Baelor held out his arms and Egg rushed into the embrace. Baelor held him gently for a moment, letting him get his tears out, and then he pulled him away so that he could look into his eyes.
“I’m glad you’re back safely with us, Aegon, but I can’t say I’m particularly impressed with the manner in which you got here,” Baelor said sternly, but with a wry smile on his face. Egg looked suitably chastened.
“I’m sorry uncle,” he said softly, “I just wanted to be a squire. And Daeron wouldn’t let me leave the inn, and he shaved off my hair so no one would recognise me so he could get drunk instead of competing in the tourney. And then Ser Duncan came along, and he didn’t have a squire, and I thought it was my only chance to be one so I followed him. I know I shouldn’t have done it, and I shouldn’t have lied to him,” Egg teared up again at this, glancing at Dunk with sorrowful eyes. Dunk gave him a soft smile, unable to be angry at the boy, and Egg gave him a watery smile back.
“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Maekar said grumpily. “Ser Duncan and I must ride out now, if we want to get to the inn by nightfall. You go with your uncle, Aegon.” Maekar turned to leave, but before he could, Egg ran forwards and threw his arms around his father’s waist. Maekar rolled his eyes, but his expression softened slightly and he returned the embrace.
“I’m sorry, father, I won’t do it again, I promise,” Egg said, voice muffled by his father’s clothes.
“See that you don’t,” Maekar said stiffly, but there was a gentleness in his face that betrayed his true emotions. Extracting himself from his son, Maekar turned to Dunk and gestured towards the door. Without another word, they turned and left the castle, Dunk hearing Egg talking a mile a minute to his uncle, slowly getting quieter as they walked away.
As they stepped outside, Dunk’s eyes widened as he saw Thunder and another beautiful black stallion outside, already prepared for riding and stocked up for the journey. He shouldn’t be surprised, of course a prince has people to ready his horse without even having to be asked. He smiled and walked over to Thunder, stroking his face softly. “Are you ready for the next adventure?” Dunk whispered, “we’re going to ride out with a prince, can you believe it?” Thunder whinnied in response, and Dunk smiled at him. Next to him he saw Prince Maekar mount his horse in one smooth movement, and he quickly mounted Thunder before he could be told off for delaying them any further. Maekar turned expectantly to Dunk, eyebrows raised, and Dunk realised that Maekar was expecting him to lead them in the right direction. Without further ado, he nudged Thunder forwards and they began their journey.