The Dragonpit, King's Landing.
However, just as they were about to burst out of the western wing and step into the magnificent but cavernous central plaza of the Dragonpit, now illuminated only by scattered, flickering torches, a chaotic sound of footsteps and weary voices drifted from the opposite entrance.
"This gods-awful weather... after this patrol, I'm finding some wine to kill the chill."
"It's warm enough inside the Pit, but this sulfur stench makes my head rot..."
It was a patrol of Dragonkeepers! At least five or six men, armed with spears and longswords.
Both sides froze at opposite ends of the vast hall.
The dancing torchlight projected the silhouettes of Giles's group and the three mounted dragons clearly against the stone walls. There was nowhere to hide.
"Who goes there?! Halt!"
The patrol captain reacted first, drawing his sword with a sharp shink while barking the command.
"We've been spotted!" Lucerys cried out, his face turning ashen.
"Then we charge through them!!" Jacaerys's eyes flashed with a murderous light.
He slammed his heels into his dragon's flanks, hissing the command: "Vermax! Break them!!"
"ROAR!"
The dark green dragon unleashed a violent, defiant roar that shook the dust from the ceiling.
He lunged forward, his powerful legs cracking the stone floor as he became a dark green arrow of scales and musk, charging straight for the patrol.
The patrol was struck with horror. They had never faced a frontal charge from a mounted dragon inside the Pit.
In the panic, some raised trembling spears while others stumbled toward the cover of stone pillars.
"They're stealing the dragons! It's the Blacks! It's Jacaerys! Stop them!!"
The captain remained relatively steady, shouting orders as he backpedaled, trying to form a fragile line.
A few stray arrows were fired but missed wildly, clattering harmlessly off dragon scales or the floor. To a dragon, these attacks were mere itches.
"Get out of the way!!" Jacaerys ducked low against the dragon's neck.
Vermax didn't slow down. At the moment of impact, he opened his massive maw and snapped at the captain, who was still barking orders.
Crunch! Squeltch!
The sound of shattering bone and tearing flesh erupted simultaneously.
The captain didn't even have time to scream before his upper torso was severed and swallowed by dragon teeth. Blood and offal sprayed across the stones.
The remaining keepers were terrified out of their wits.
Facing the snarling dragon with a fresh corpse in its mouth, they shrieked and scattered, scrambling into the shadows behind the pillars.
Vermax tore through the center of them, followed closely by Lucerys and Joffrey.
Arrax and Tyraxes followed suit, letting out threatening roars that saturated the air with draconic dread.
The scattered patrol cowered in the corners, watching helplessly as the three dragons surged toward the only exit, the giant bronze doors that had been left slightly ajar.
The scent of wind and rain was now unmistakable. Success was in sight.
But as they crossed the center of the plaza, Jacaerys's eye was caught by something: the wooden viewing stands erected for a recent ceremony, the high engagement platform, and the mountainous piles of dry timber gathered for repairs to the Pit.
A mad, dangerous, and intoxicating thought took hold of him.
Why?
Why should they have to slink away like beaten dogs? Why could Aemond seize their dragons and trample their dignity, while they had to flee like thieves to take back what was theirs?
Why should the Greens sit securely in King's Landing, occupying the Red Keep and enjoying the glory that belonged to his mother?
He jerked the reins, halting Vermax.
The dragon's momentum stalled, and he turned his massive head, amber pupils looking at his master with confusion.
"Jacaerys! What's wrong? Get out!" Lucerys shouted in a panic.
The sentry whistles outside were already sounding; they were out of time.
Jacaerys turned back, his face a mask of frantic, feverish excitement.
"Are we just going to leave?" he asked with a voice that sent chills down the spine.
He reached back and unslung a heavy leather flask; it was the fire-oil he had prepared. He had carried it, hoping to burn the Pit, though the heavy rain had made him hesitate.
But if he couldn't burn the whole place, he could at least burn these Green curs to sate his hatred!
"Are we just... going to let them off easy?"
"My Lord! What are you doing?!" Giles rushed up, sensing the shift.
"We follow the plan! Take the dragons and go!"
Jacaerys didn't answer. He ripped the stopper from the flask, and the pungent, stinging smell of oil filled the air.
He looked at his dragon, commanding in a whisper of High Valyrian: "Dracarys."
He pointed his hand toward the timber, the stands, and the platform.
"Burn it all!"
"No! Prince! You mustn't!!" Giles's face went white.
"Burning the Dragonpit is an open declaration of war! The Greens will never let this go! Many will die!"
"Declaration of war?!" Jacaerys glared at Giles, his single eye bloodshot and wide.
"What do you think this is?! A game of house?!"
"From the moment he maimed me on High Tide and blinded this eye, the blood feud was sealed! From the moment he locked our dragons in this lightless prison, the war began!"
He ripped off his eye patch, exposing the jagged, scarred socket, pointing at it with trembling fury.
"Did they leave us any room? Did they care for law or family?! Did they care that we, too, have the blood of the dragon?!"
He turned to the pale Lucerys and the shaking Joffrey with a manic, mesmerizing intensity:
"Burn it! Burn it all!!"
"Let Aemond! Let Alicent! Let all the Usurpers see! We will tell them with fire!"
"Jacaerys, you've lost your mind!" Lucerys's voice shook as he made a final plea.
"Then let them come!!" Jacaerys roared, cutting him off. He stared into Lucerys's eyes.
"Lucerys! Don't forget High Tide! It was you!"
That final sentence pierced Lucerys's heart.
The memory of High Tide, the lost eye... it was enough.
"Fine." Lucerys nodded, submitting to his brother's madness.
He took the other oil flask Jacaerys tossed to him.
"No! Prince Lucerys! You can't! Think of the consequences!"
Giles tried to lunge forward, but Jacaerys ignored him.
He uncapped his flask and charged toward the dry wood and old waterproof canvas, drenching them in the thick, pungent oil.
Joffrey, watching his brothers and the encroaching noise from outside, gritted his teeth, took a bag of oil, and mimicked them.
Giles and the other three keepers shared a look of realization. They had done all they could.
"Princes! Once the fire is lit, charge out! Do not stop for anything!" Giles shouted one last time before he and his men vanished into a dark side-passage.
Inside the plaza, the oil was now everywhere. Outside, the shouts from the towers, the whistles, and the clatter of armored boots were becoming a deafening roar.
The garrison had discovered the anomaly and was massing.
"Intruders!"
"Close the gates! Close the damn gates!!"
Jacaerys remounted Vermax, looking down at his "masterpiece" with a twisted, joyful grin.
"Are you ready, my friend?" he whispered against the dragon's scales.
"Let's give these Usurpers a gift."
He sat upright, took a deep breath, and screamed with every ounce of his hatred:
"DRACARYS!"
Vermax raised his head, his neck muscles bulging like stone, and a brilliant orange-red light erupted from his throat!
KABOOM!!
The oil-soaked materials didn't just catch; they exploded. The dragon's breath acted like a detonator, sending a ball of flame expanding outward at terrifying speed.
Crack! Snap! Boom!!
The dry timber roared into life. The fire was a living thing, greedily licking at everything in its path: the ornate wood of the stands, the Green banners, the construction materials.
Thick black smoke filled the plaza, swirling toward the dome and choking the air.
The heat hit like a physical wall, making it impossible to breathe.
"It worked! It's burning! Hahaha!!" Jacaerys laughed maniacally through the smoke and heat.
"Burn! Burn hotter! Turn everything here to ash!!"
"Jacaerys! We have to go! Now!!" Lucerys coughed violently.
The fire didn't just illuminate the hall; it pierced through the gap in the bronze doors, casting a terrifying, flickering red light into the rainy night, staining the raindrops like blood.
Inside, the rest of the Dragonpit's garrison was fully roused by the explosion and the heat.
"The Pit is on fire!!"
"It's a dragon! A dragon is breathing fire!!"
"The Blacks are stealing the dragons! Stop them!!"
"Water! Get water!!"
Panic-stricken screams came from every direction, but the wall of flame and smoke acted as a barrier.
The first keepers to rush in were pushed back by the heat; one was crushed by a falling, burning timber, becoming a screaming ball of fire before falling silent.
"Charge out!!"
Jacaerys finally turned Vermax away from the hell he had created and faced the heavy bronze doors.
The gap wasn't wide, but for a desperate dragon, it was enough.
"Vermax! Ram it!!"
The dark green dragon gathered his strength, letting out a violent, bone-shaking roar. His hind legs bunched and lunged.
Speed! Head down! Using his skull as a battering ram, he slammed into the left door.
CLANG!
The metal groaned and buckled. The door, never fully secured, was thrown wide! Icy rain and howling wind poured in like a dam breaking, clashing with the heat in a hiss of scalding white steam.
"Go!!"
Jacaerys led the way, charging through the breach.
Lucerys and Joffrey followed suit, their dragons equally terrified and exhilarated as they burst out of the fire and steam.
As they emerged into the rain, fully exposed to the watchtowers.
BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG!!!
Atop the highest tower, the great bronze alarm bell was struck by the garrison with frantic strength.
The urgent, piercing tolling echoed across the Hill of Rhaenys, spreading like a fever through every corner of the sleeping city below.