Chapter Text
Dunk had not meant to lose control like that.
It was not when he saw Tanselle’s finger in Aerion’s grasp or heard her piercing screams. Not even when Aerion was bodily holding him down with his guards and lowering his jaw to the stage’s dusty corner. He had kept it together.
But it was Egg. Little Egg and his thin reed voice commanding the men to let him go, did Dunk feel his heart sink. His stomach normally rolled with fear in every situation he found himself. The acid pit was a familiar sensation. But watching Egg argue with his brother....
It felt like a gaping hole that plunged deep into the earth. He felt the hairs on his arms stand to attention when Egg revealed himself.
He had never felt so betrayed.
There were many injustices in Dunk’s lowly life. Life was unfair in their world. Gods know he had lived through it. But it was the betrayal from one he thought he could love. Someone he could raise and protect, just as Ser Arlan had him.
It rocked Dunk to his core.
All at once, he felt his skin prick all over like lightning had struck the tent. He felt the thick chill of fear at what was coming – he had promised himself he would not reveal his secret to anyone, not even his Ser had known. But he felt it coming with dread. His heart beat an ancient beat that called him. There was a drumbeat pounding in Dunk’s ears, drowning out all sound. The blood dripping from Aerion’s lips seemed like a siren song, Dunk could almost taste its sweetness on his tongue. And Egg’s violet eyes staring at him, impassive and dominating. His heart thudded and seemed to stop before breaking out into an impossible rhythm, stealing his breath away.
Dunk grunted, doubling over. His bones crunched underneath him. He yelled as the change took him over. Leathery wings burst from his back as his skin blazed into a heat he had learned to cool with his humble upbringing – now burnt to ashes at Egg’s feet. Dunk’s shout became a roar, and the crowd’s disturbed murmur became a cacophony of screams. Dunk barely saw in the corner of an eye how Aerion and Egg both, backed away slowly then quick in fear and shock as Dunk’s body tore and unfolded into a hulking dragon-like shape, ripping the Puppeteer tents support poles from its roots in the ground. Heavy canvas descended and the audience that had assembled, men, women, guards and Targaryens, became engulfed in ignited cloth, having been set alight by the heat of Dunk’s transformation.
Women screamed and men yelled, scrambling frantically to escape the death trap of the burning tent’s remains. The beast beneath was roaring; the heave of the flaming canvas writhing with its movements, itself struggling to free from the material. Egg and Aerion watched in shock and horror as the field around them caught and started to burn, and the monster thrashed within.
Yet for what they were witnessing, Egg’s first thought was for his Ser and friend, trapped under the tent.
“Ser Duncan!” He yelled, dashing forward to try and lift the colossus underneath. But he could find no purchase as more of the canvas started to burn. The roars of the monster, once frightening, now became frightened (or it seemed to be), and the frantic heave and swell of its mass thrashing under the flames.
“Get back, you fool!” Aerion yelled, pulling the skinny arm of his brother back as he surveyed the damage. Whilst this was almost impossible, something fantastic, Aerion had never felt more alive. His heart thudded with a thrill at the possibility of his wildest dreams coming true. A dragon. A real dragon. The sigil of his house. Come to life.
And it was his to claim.
He was not going to let Egg of all his family to be the one to claim that giant... No, that dragon.
“Get in there and help it.” Aerion ordered the men. Wate and Yorkel exchanged glances and stared blankly at the burning pile, now moving smaller and incinerating before their eyes.
“But my lord...” Wate murmured.
“I said, go help it!” Aerion barked. The men’s reluctance was thankfully interrupted by a loud roar from the burning tent.
The dragon, Dunk was now ripping free of the now weakened structure, having bit his way through what was left and was emerging on the other side. The tourney grounds was now a mass of people screaming, men running and tents sitting dangerously close to each other – flames now spreading out of control. In all the confusion, people almost did not notice the creature out of myth and legend, spreading its massive orange wings and with heavy downward beat, was taking to the air.
“Don’t just stand there, get after it!” Aerion pointed skyward. His baffled men were still too stunned to respond, leaving Egg and Aerion to stare up at the black shape taking to the night sky, despite the brightness of the burning tourney grounds, slowly getting smaller as it flew away. Aerion grunted in frustration, ordering his men to move. He looked down to grab Egg again – the rat would know where his dragon would have got to, seeing how they seemed to know each other. But by the time he turned around to find his little brother, Egg’s bald head was already gone.
“Fuck!” Aerion spit.
Dunk did not know where he was going, but familiarity and grief - all the chaos of his transformation had his heart guiding him in the direction of the elm. Flying low, he crashed into the stream by the camp, wings tumbling over each other – unused as he was after so long not in his true form – into the cool water as he willed himself small again. Water spilled and crashed over the seams of the land and the ground rumbled with the sudden weight of Dunk’s draconic body. The chill of the water helped cool the fire in his head and he felt himself fizzle out and lose his mass. With a wet groan, mouth full of water and exhausted from the events of the last hours, Dunk collapsed into the trickling river. Barely holding himself up by his suddenly weak arms, Dunk struggled to the bank, dragging his naked and soaking body up unto drier land. He barrelled unto his back and let out tired exhale.
For a moment, he let himself take a breather, staring up at the sparkling stars. The smell of burning was billowing from a cloud now growing bigger from the fire he had started, almost blocking out the stars.
Gods, what a mess.
Dunk wiped a hand over his eyes, splashing in the shallow beside him.
What am I gonna do now?
I just showed everyone...
Gods above...
Help me...
Egg...
Egg must be feeling so alone right now. He must think me a monster.
Familiar bad feelings welled up in Dunk’s stomach and with a quick twist, he hurled up his supper into the water beside him. It thankfully sailed away from him with the current as he heaved until he was dry.
“Egg... A Targaryen.” Dunk mumbled. He could barely accept it. Egg was part of that horrible family Raymun warned about. And Aerion was his brother.
That prince Aerion. Dunk may not have known him for very long. But from what he had seen, he was the last dragon prince he should have revealed this secret to. He had that look; Dunk had caught it in his transformation. It was a hungry, greedy look he had seen one too many times. It was the look the Gold Cloaks had whenever you had something to lose. When they wanted to prey on you. Dunk shook his sopping wet head. He must flee.
Egg panted as he ran, lifting his tunic above his ankles so as not to trip and fall in his haste. He weaved through panicking tourney-goers, more than once getting bowled over from a random direction as someone mindlessly also ran without looking where they were fleeing to. His little breaths were coming short as he sprinted as hard as he could over familiar fields towards that low stone wall and the homely elm tree where the horses were camped.
He caught sight of the rumps of Thunder and Chestnut, still tied by the tree. With a sigh of relief, Egg picked up his heels, hoping that Ser Duncan would be there. And as luck would have it, he was. The knight was hastily packing up the camp, his hair soaked and his clothes also drenched from being pulled over a wet body. He had not even looked up before he spoke.
“Don’t follow me, Egg.” Egg stopped short, catching his breath as he watched Ser Duncan shove his belongings up and quickly tucking them into the horses’ saddlebags. Thunder and Chestnut, did not seem spooked by Dunk. Either they did not sense the truth, or that they simply had not witnessed what Egg had just seen. They peacefully idled, chewing on the grass.
“Ser...”
“I can’t, Egg. I'm going. Don’t try and follow me. And I'll know if you do. Trust me, I will.”
“But Ser, please...” Egg whined, stepping closer now. Dunk finally looked up at him approaching and backed away.
“Egg... Please... You know now. You saw the truth. I don’t want to hurt you.” Dunk held his arms up in surrender. He kept his eyes to the ground, not daring to look Egg straight for fear of what he might see there. Anger? Disgust? Fear?
A monster ...
This was something out of Dunk’s worst nightmares.
“You won’t.” Egg declared.
“You don’t know that.”
“But I do.” Egg countered. “I know who and what you are, Ser Duncan the Tall. And you are not a monster. You will not hurt me.”
Dunk could only stare and see not a trace of fear on the little boy’s face. His imperious chin was lifted high. Once, Dunk assumed it was because the boy was insolent. Now he knew better where that arrogance came from. With a breathless laugh, Dunk shook his head, his arms dropping. Maybe it was some Targaryen magic, or it was just Egg. But he was ready, too ready to accept his statement as truth. All his life, he feared his secret being exposed. Being chained like an animal for people to gawk at and throw refuse. He feared Ser Arlan throwing him out and abandoning him if he ever knew. Egg... he could hardly bear to lose to this ugly truth. Perhaps, he was the only person Dunk could trust. A Targaryen of that dragon house.
“Well, I don’t know where I'm going.” Dunk flapped his arms helplessly. “But I can’t stay here. Or anywhere, now. There’s no going back after all that.”
“I know. That is why we must leave Westeros.”
Dunk blinked. “Leave Westeros? But...where?”
“We can head east and find a ship heading across the Narrow Sea.” Egg started helping with the packing, Dunk joining in as Egg spoke. “We’ll have to be careful in the Stormlands. Though, if we’re unlucky, we may have to detour into Dorne and find passage from there.”
“What about your family?” Dunk stopped. Egg was quiet for a moment, his stormy eyes calculating. “You’d be leaving them behind. We’ll be running from your own family.”
Egg’s face was serious, staring a hole into Dunk’s soul. Knowing what he knew, Dunk wondered what Egg saw there now. If it had changed at all in his mind.
“I know dragons disappeared for a reason. And I'm not willing to give you up for the sake of my family.”