Chapter 24: Dragon's Aerie: First Landing and the Forging of a Realm
The weeks following the Phoenix Company expedition's departure for the uncharted southern Summer Sea stretched into an agonizing eternity for Viserys. Braavos, with its familiar labyrinth of canals and its intricate dance of commerce and intrigue, suddenly felt confining, a gilded cage indeed, while his true ambitions, his most vital assets, were braving unknown perils hundreds of leagues away. The Nexus, his clandestine command center, hummed with a suppressed tension. Every arriving dispatch, every fluttering of a carrier pigeon's wings, sent a jolt of adrenaline through him. He was a remote king, a cartographer attempting to draw a new realm on a map stained with salt and uncertainty, and the first lines were being etched not with ink, but with the sweat, blood, and hopes of his most trusted followers.
Finally, after what seemed an age, a swift Phoenix Company cutter, battle-scarred from a brush with Summer Islander privateers but still fleet, limped into its secret Braavosi mooring. It bore the first comprehensive reports from Dragon's Aerie. Viserys devoured the heavily coded scrolls, Alistair Finch's mind dissecting every detail, Viserys Targaryen's heart pounding with a mixture of exultation and apprehension.
Captain Valerion Qo's dispatches, penned in his blunt, seaman's script, confirmed Daenerys's visions with an almost unsettling accuracy. The island chain, a crescent of three primary volcanic islands guarding a deep, magnificent lagoon, was indeed a find of immense strategic value. The largest island, which Valerion had, with Viserys's prior (and Daenerys-inspired) instruction, named "Aerea's Peak" after their long-dead Targaryen ancestor who had also sought refuge on distant shores, possessed a still-smoking, though seemingly dormant, central volcano. Its slopes were cloaked in dense, unfamiliar jungle, teeming with exotic wildlife – some docile and potentially edible, others alarmingly large and aggressive. Giant, scaled lizards with serrated teeth roamed the interior, and vividly colored flying creatures with venomous-looking stingers hunted in the twilight hours. There were, as Daenerys had dreamed, abundant freshwater springs, rich volcanic soil in the valleys, and stands of incredibly hard, dark timber that Xaro Xhandar, leading the engineering contingent, was already eyeing for shipbuilding and fortifications. The surrounding seas, Valerion confirmed, were teeming with fish, including a unique silver-scaled species that seemed to phosphoresce in the moonlight.
The islands appeared uninhabited by any sentient, organized society. However, Lyra of Lys, whose dispatches were filled with detailed observations on the local flora and fauna (and urgent requests for more medical supplies, particularly antivenoms), reported finding unsettling evidence of a precursor civilization: weathered, cyclopean stone ruins half-swallowed by the jungle on the smallest island, etched with strange, non-Valyrian glyphs that even Archivist, when later shown rubbings, could not decipher. These ruins pulsed with a faint, almost imperceptible wrongness that made the hairs on Lyra's arms stand on end, a subtle disquiet she struggled to articulate but which Viserys, reading her words, felt an echo of, perhaps through his own burgeoning sensitivities.
The establishment of the first settlement, which Viserys had decreed be named "Aegis" – a shield for their future realm – in the sheltered lagoon of Aerea's Peak, was proving to be an arduous undertaking. Draq's Phoenix Guard had secured a defensible beachhead, their disciplined volleys of crossbow fire driving off several packs of the larger predatory lizards. Xaro Xhandar's engineers were working tirelessly, adapting his prefabricated defensive designs to the rugged volcanic terrain, a palisade of sharpened logs already rising around the nascent encampment. But the challenges were immense. The heat and humidity were oppressive, unlike anything the Braavosi or Tyroshi recruits had experienced. Strange fevers, resistant to Lyra's known remedies, had begun to afflict some of the settlers. Clearing the dense, razor-thorned jungle was a brutal, exhausting task, and several construction accidents had resulted in serious injuries. Ledger, tasked with establishing order and managing resources, struggled to implement a fair rationing system for the dwindling initial supplies, his meticulous accounting clashing with the desperate, immediate needs of a frontier colony. Discipline, under Draq's iron hand, remained tight, but morale, Valerion admitted, was a constant concern.
Into this volatile mix sailed Kiera "Redfin" and the battered remnants of her pirate fleet – some eight ships, carrying around four hundred hardened, desperate corsairs, men and women from a dozen different lands, their loyalty to Kiera forged in shared plunder and bloodshed. Guided by Phoenix Company escorts, they limped into Aegis's lagoon, their arrival greeted with a mixture of relief (for their numbers) and deep suspicion by Draq's Phoenix Guard.
The integration of these two disparate forces was Viserys's first major test as a remote sovereign. Kiera's pirates were undisciplined, accustomed to answering only to their own volatile queen, their ethos one of plunder and fierce independence. Draq's Phoenix Guard, many of them ex-legionnaires or city watchmen, valued order, discipline, and a clear chain of command. Clashes were inevitable. Within days of Kiera's arrival, brawls erupted over rations, over women (though Viserys had strictly forbidden the taking of any "camp followers" on the initial expedition, some of Kiera's ships had their own), over perceived slights.
Viserys, receiving urgent, coded reports of the escalating tensions, acted decisively. He dispatched a swift cutter back to Dragon's Aerie, bearing not just supplies, but his "First Law of the Aerie" – a simple, brutal code of conduct inscribed by Archivist on a scroll of heavy parchment, sealed with a newly designed Phoenix Company emblem (a crimson phoenix rising from a circlet of Valyrian steel). The Law was clear: all inhabitants of Dragon's Aerie, whether Phoenix Guard, Kiera's Corsairs, or civilian artisan, were subject to the absolute authority of the "Lord of the Aerie" (Viserys's deliberately anonymous title). Loyalty was paramount. Theft of Company property, mutiny, or unprovoked violence against a fellow inhabitant would be met with swift, unyielding justice – often, death. Disputes were to be brought before Captain Valerion Qo, now officially designated Governor-Militant of Aegis, whose judgment, guided by Viserys's directives, was final.
Kiera's Corsairs were given a stark choice: swear a new Blood-Bound Vow, pledging allegiance not just to Kiera, but to the Lord of the Aerie and the Phoenix Company, and agree to abide by its laws and serve in its "Special Maritime Operations Wing" under Kiera's (now subordinate) command. In return, they would receive regular pay, good rations, medical care from Lyra of Lys, land grants on Aerea's Peak once it was secured, and the promise of refitted ships and participation in future, highly profitable (and officially sanctioned) ventures. Those who refused would be disarmed and given a leaky boat with minimal provisions to find their own fate in the Basilisk Isles – a near-certain death sentence.
Kiera herself, after a stormy, private meeting with Valerion (who conveyed Viserys's unyielding terms), chose pragmatism over pride. She saw the discipline, the resources, the sheer organizational power of the Phoenix Company. She saw the potential of Dragon's Aerie as a secure, impregnable base. She took the Vow, her crimson-streaked hair defiant even as she knelt, her pirates, grumbling but seeing the writing on the wall, followed suit. The Corsair Queen was now Commodore Kiera of the Phoenix Fleet, her predatory instincts to be leashed and directed by an unseen master hundreds of leagues away.
The first test of this new order came quickly. One of Kiera's most trusted lieutenants, a hulking Ibbenese whaler named Thorg, killed a Phoenix Guard sergeant in a drunken brawl over a gambling debt. The corsairs bristled, demanding Thorg be released to Kiera's justice. Draq's men clamored for Thorg's immediate execution. Valerion, his face like granite, had Thorg clapped in irons and convened Aegis's first formal court-martial, with Lyra of Lys (whose quiet integrity was respected by all factions) and Ledger (representing impartial administration) as his assessors. Viserys, receiving the details by emergency dispatch, sent back his judgment: Thorg, having violated the First Law by initiating unprovoked deadly violence, was guilty. However, given the circumstances (the gambling, the alcohol, the sergeant's own reported belligerence), and the need to forge unity, the sentence would not be death, but a brutal flogging, forfeiture of all his plunder, and assignment to the most dangerous, back-breaking labor details for a year. Kiera herself was ordered to witness the punishment. The justice was harsh, but it was seen (grudgingly by some) as impartial, not favoring one faction over the other. A fragile order began to take root in the volcanic soil of Aegis.
Viserys, in Braavos, found himself stretched to his mental and physical limits. He was not just a spymaster and merchant prince anymore; he was a colonial administrator, a lawgiver, a remote commander-in-chief. He slept in snatched hours, his mind constantly abuzz with logistics, strategy, and the subtle art of managing ambitious, often dangerous, subordinates. His attempts to use his mental "sensing" became more focused, more desperate. He would spend hours in a meditative trance, trying to extend his consciousness towards Dragon's Aerie, to feel the pulse of the fledgling colony, the loyalty of his commanders, the undercurrents of dissent among Kiera's corsairs. He began to experience fleeting, vivid flashes – the oppressive heat of the jungle, the sting of an unknown insect, Draq's grim satisfaction after a successful patrol, Kiera's simmering resentment during a planning session with Valerion. These were not controllable visions, but they provided him with an intuitive layer of information that often supplemented, or even contradicted, the carefully worded official dispatches. On one occasion, a sudden, overwhelming premonition of a landslide near a newly constructed section of Aegis's palisade prompted him to send an urgent warning to Valerion. The palisade was relocated just days before a torrential downpour caused the very slope he had "seen" to collapse. His "dragon sight," as Daenerys called it, was becoming a tangible, if unpredictable, tool of command.
Daenerys, now a young woman of twelve, her Targaryen beauty becoming more striking with each passing year, felt an undeniable, almost visceral connection to Dragon's Aerie. The name itself, resonating with her dreams, seemed to call to her. When Viserys shared (heavily sanitized) reports from the new colony – tales of strange creatures, volcanic landscapes, and the challenges of building a new home – her eyes would shine with a mixture of excitement and a strange, poignant longing. Her own dreams grew more intense, often filled with images of Aerea's Peak, of pathways through its jungles, of hidden caves beneath the smoking mountain. She started to learn the rudimentary Ghiscari dialect from Kipp (who spent time in Braavos between his Essosi assignments, debriefing Viserys and training new intelligence recruits for the Phoenix Company) and even practiced swordplay with a light wooden practice blade under Morrec's reluctant tutelage, a fierce determination in her young frame. "When we go to Dragon's Aerie, Vizzy," she declared one day, "I will not be a sheltered princess. I will be a dragon of our House, ready to defend our home." Viserys, seeing her fire, knew that this new land was already becoming more than just a strategic asset; it was taking root in their very souls.
The external threats, however, remained ever-present. Kipp's network in Myr and his cautious probes back into Pentos painted a disturbing picture. Magister Illyrio Mopatis, though publicly appearing to have closed the case of the "Ortego conspiracy," was far from satisfied. His agents were now reported to be quietly investigating any unusual maritime activity in the southern Summer Sea, any rumors of new, well-funded pirate havens, any trading companies showing an inexplicable knowledge of Ghiscari or Basilisk Isle affairs. Illyrio was a patient hunter, and Viserys knew the Magister's gaze was slowly, inexorably turning towards the general vicinity of Dragon's Aerie.
In Braavos itself, the Iron Bank's interest in the Phoenix Trading & Exploration Company had not waned. Keyholder Denyo Karys, impressed by the Company's prompt repayment of its initial loan (using a portion of the Volantene treasure, carefully laundered through multiple Essosi banks by Ledger), had extended a new, larger line of credit. But his questions to Ledger about the Company's "southern agricultural ventures" (the cover story for Dragon's Aerie's initial development) were becoming more pointed, his analysts undoubtedly scrutinizing the Phoenix Company's unusually high expenditures on shipping, security, and "infrastructure development." Viserys managed this delicate relationship with extreme care, ensuring that the Phoenix Company's legitimate trade profits remained robust, its Braavosi operations impeccable, its persona that of a daring but ultimately prudent mercantile enterprise.
Xaro Xhandar, working with a growing team of shipwrights and artisans in the Phoenix Company's expanded Braavosi shipyard (and with plans to replicate the facility at Aegis), finally launched the first true "Phoenix-class" warship. She was named the Balerion, a deliberate, defiant echo of Aegon the Conqueror's great dragon. She was a marvel of Essosi shipbuilding – longer and narrower than a traditional war galley, her lines built for speed, her triple masts carrying a vast spread of dark red sails, her reinforced hull bristling with concealed ballistae ports and emplacements for Myrish fire-throwers. Her sea trials, conducted under Captain Valerion Qo's critical eye, exceeded all expectations. The Balerion was a predator, a true queen of the waves, the flagship of Viserys's rapidly growing shadow fleet. Two more of her class, the Meraxes and the Vhagar, were already under construction.
The successful establishment of Aegis, the integration (however fraught) of Kiera Redfin's corsairs, the launch of the Balerion – these were tangible milestones in the forging of Viserys's realm. But with each step forward, the path grew steeper, the dangers more profound. He was no longer just a hidden hand manipulating events from afar; he was the unseen lord of a remote, burgeoning colony, a commander of pirates and privateers, a builder of navies. He was shaping his destiny with a ruthlessness and a strategic genius that was awesome to behold, yet the price was a constant dance on the razor's edge of exposure, betrayal, and annihilation. Dragon's Aerie was their first foothold on an uncharted shore, but Viserys knew it was just the beginning. The true test would be to hold it, to make it flourish, to transform it from a pirate sanctuary and a colonial outpost into the unshakeable foundation of a new Targaryen ascendancy, all while the great powers of the world began to stir, their gaze slowly turning towards the smoke rising from his dragon's nest.