Danyla stood on no ceremony and put both of the oldest Dragon Eggs straight into the large whale skin shoulder bag she had brought especially for them.
"They really are rather heavy!"
Fortunately, Danyla had spent the past three years practicing hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship, so she was reasonably strong. It took some effort, but she still lifted the bag without much trouble.
On her way out, Danyla also slipped a glittering golden Dragon Egg with a pinkish-purple sheen, which had caught her eye, into the bag.
Seeing that Princess Danyla intended to take three Dragon Eggs at once, the Dragonkeepers did not dare stop her, but still reminded her,
"Your Highness, you need His Majesty the King’s permission before taking three Dragon Eggs at once!"
Naturally, Danyla did not want to make things difficult for the Dragonkeepers, so she explained,
"I'm taking these Dragon Eggs to see His Majesty the King right now. You needn't worry!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
After leaving the Dragonpit, Danyla mounted Dreamfyre and flew straight toward the Red Keep.
By the custom of the Targaryen royal family, most dragonriders would leave their Great Dragons at the Dragonpit, then return to the Red Keep on horseback or by carriage.
But Danyla had no desire to endure the stench of shit in King's Landing, so she simply flew there on Dreamfyre.
The Red Keep had plenty of open space for Dreamfyre to land, anyway. Besides, her current control over Dreamfyre was unlike that of other dragonriders; there was no chance of her losing control.
King Jaehaerys had received word as soon as Dreamfyre appeared over King's Landing. He immediately ordered the servants to prepare tea and refreshments. He was quite fond of this impish great-granddaughter of his.
Danyla had used Dragon Porcelain to rake in considerable wealth from the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms, which pleased King Jaehaerys all the more.
After all, when strengthening oneself was difficult, weakening one's rivals was a fairly good alternative.
What Jaehaerys had not expected, however, was for the girl to ride Dreamfyre straight to the Red Keep.
"She really is a girl like no other!"
By the time Danyla had settled Dreamfyre and reached the entrance to Maegor's Holdfast, Audrey and Alicent were already downstairs to welcome her.
"Greetings, Your Highness. His Majesty the King has been waiting for you for some time!"
One young beauty was tender as water, the other gentle and charming. Standing together, they were certainly a pleasure to behold.
"Hello, Lady Audrey, Lady Alicent!"
"Thank you for coming to welcome me in person!"
Alicent immediately linked her arm through Danyla's and said affectionately,
"It's our honor, Danyla!"
"You don't mind me calling you that, do you?"
Danyla responded awkwardly but politely,
"That's fine. It feels more familiar!"
Audrey simply walked ahead to lead the way with respectful composure, neither overly enthusiastic nor distant.
By comparison, Alicent seemed much more calculated than Audrey. It appeared that Alicent still lacked subtlety at this stage and was clearly less adept than Audrey.
Dark the Unicorn
As soon as she saw King Jaehaerys, Danyla rushed affectionately into his arms.
"Your Majesty, Great-Grandfather, what do you think of these three Dragon Eggs I chose?"
As she spoke, Danyla opened her whale skin bag as though showing off a treasure, displaying the three Dragon Eggs before King Jaehaerys.
"Three?"
Jaehaerys froze at the sight of the three Dragon Eggs, then deliberately put on a stern expression.
"Even if your mother is pregnant, you're only allowed to choose one, aren't you? How could you be so greedy as to take three?"
Danyla replied coaxingly,
"What if Mother is carrying twins again?"
"As their elder sister, I can hardly favor one over the other!"
"As for the extra one, I've recently developed a new method for hatching Dragon Eggs, and I'd like to take it back for an experiment!"
"The chances of success are slim, but it's still worth trying, isn't it? What do you think, Great-Grandfather? Surely you approve of what I'm doing!"
"Hahaha! I wouldn't believe it of anyone else, but if it's you, Danyla, I really would like to see it!"
"Very well, you've persuaded me. You may take all three Dragon Eggs!"
In truth, Jaehaerys had never been able to understand how Danyla had hatched Myracis and established such a close bond with her.
He always felt that this rather unusual great-granddaughter might bring him another surprise, so he bent the rules and let her take the three Dragon Eggs.
After sharing some refreshments with King Jaehaerys, Danyla took her leave.
By the time she returned to New Dragonstone Island, night had fallen, but Danyla still immediately placed the three Dragon Eggs in Dreamfyre's cave.
Looking at the five exquisitely beautiful Dragon Eggs, each a different color, Danyla felt her spirits soar and could not stop stroking them one after another.
Unexpectedly, Danyla fell asleep draped over the five Dragon Eggs without even realizing it.
Dany the Unicorn
In her dreams, Danyla felt herself arrive above a wondrous, magnificent city.
It was an enormous city surrounded by a vast cluster of volcanoes. Thick smoke rose constantly from the dark craters around it, almost completely obscuring the stars and moon in the night sky.
Yet the searing lava in the craters and the towering obsidian candles set upon the volcanoes bathed the night sky in a glow like congealed, blackened blood.
Every building there soared into the clouds, its colors black and red. Crystal-like magical lamps adorned the buildings, illuminating the entire city in dazzling splendor.
Lion-bodied, Dragon-winged, Human-faced statues towered throughout the city. Their material was remarkably similar to the black dragonstone used to build Dragonstone Castle.
As she gazed at those sphinxes, Danyla faintly heard indistinct chanting in the language of Old Valyria.
Just as Danyla tried to hear it clearly.
She suddenly heard the thunder of powerful wingbeats behind her. Turning around, Danyla saw two enormous Great Dragons, one black and one red, hurtling toward her.
Their heads were savage and terrifying, and backward-curving spikes ran from their heads all the way to the hard armor on their tails.
They looked far fiercer than any Great Dragon Danyla had ever seen. When their sky-blotting wings beat, they scattered the clouds with ease.
Yet despite how real they seemed, Danyla still noticed a striking difference between them and real Great Dragons.
They seemed more like creatures formed from flame. Though menacing, they lacked the living presence of true Great Dragons.
While these thoughts flashed through Danyla's mind, the two Great Dragons reached her, then transformed into two torrents of flame, one black and one red, that engulfed her in an instant.
Already mentally prepared, Danyla felt not a trace of fear. She calmly spread her arms to welcome the baptism of the two flames.
Just as Danyla had expected, after the flames engulfed her, she felt no discomfort at all. Instead, she felt as though the blood throughout her body had begun to boil.
The chanting from the sphinxes also imprinted itself clearly in Danyla's mind.
It was, in fact, a magical spell for forging dragonstone.
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