Finally, what awaited us at the top of the dragon’s Anvil 14 страница

Many to this day believe it was the Iron Throne itself that killed him. Maegor was alive when Rosby and Towers left the throne room, they argue, and the guards at the doors swore that no one entered afterward, until Queen Elinor made her discovery. Some say it was the queen herself who forced him down onto those barbs and blades, to avenge the murder of her first husband. The Kingsguard might have done the deed, though that would have required them to act in concert, as there were two knights posted at each door. It might also have been a person or persons unknown, entering and leaving the throne room through some secret passage. The Red Keep has its secrets, known only to the dead. It may also be that the king tasted despair in the dark watches of the night and took his own life, twisting the blades as needed and opening his veins to spare himself the defeat and disgrace that surely awaited him.

The reign of King Maegor I Targaryen, known to history and legend as Maegor the Cruel, lasted six years and sixty-six days. Upon his death his corpse was burned in the yard of the Red Keep, his ashes interred afterward on Dragonstone beside those of his mother. He died childless, and left no heir of his body.

Nine days later, three dragons were seen in the sky over King’s Landing. Princess Rhaena had returned, and with her came her brother Jaehaerys and her sister Alysanne. Their mother, the Dowager Queen Alyssa, arrived a fortnight later, riding beside the Lord of Storm’s End at the head of a great host, their banners streaming. The smallfolk cheered. Ravens were sent forth to every castle in the realm, inviting all lords great and small to come to King’s Landing to bear witness at the coronation of a new king, a true king.

And they came.

In the forty-eighth year After the Conquest, before the eyes of gods and men and half the lords of Westeros, the High Septon of Oldtown placed his father’s golden crown upon the brow of the young prince, and proclaimed him Jaehaerys of House Targaryen, the First of His Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, and Lord of the Seven Kingdoms. His mother Alyssa would act as his regent during the remaining years of the king’s minority, whilst Lord Rogar Baratheon was named Protector of the Realm and Hand of the King. (Half a year later, the two of them would wed.)

Fourteen years old at his ascent, Jaehaerys would sit the Iron Throne for five-and-fifty years, and in due course become known as “the Old King” and “the Conciliator.”

But that is a tale best told at another time, by another maester.

For George R. R. Martin, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, L. Sprague de Camp, Roger Zelazny, and all the other authors who ever wielded an imaginary sword, and for Kay McCauley, Anne Groell, and Sean Swanwick, for helping me bring this to you.

BY GARDNER DOZOIS

NOVELS

Strangers

Nightmare Blue (with George Alec Effinger)

Hunter’s Run (with George R. R. Martin and Daniel Abraham)

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