From Flames to Fury (Part 2)

Chapter 1: Bending the Knee

I fought the urge to fidget. What was stopping them from charging at us? From storming the ground we stood on? The sheer number of them was overwhelming, and fear gnawed at the edges of my thoughts. A cold knot formed in my stomach, and for a moment, I found it hard to breathe.

Suddenly, a loud exhale broke through the silence, the sound of hot breath meeting chilled air, and I felt the temperature around me shift. I looked up instinctively and found the looming figure of the Cannibal above us, his massive frame silhouetted against the fog. His eyes were fixed on the men, dark and unblinking, a predator ready to strike. His hot breath curled into the air like smoke, dissipating into the cold morning.

Despite the dread I felt standing among so many armed men, the presence of the Cannibal brought a twisted sort of comfort. He was dangerous, but his danger was ours to wield. He was our protector.

"They will be burned to ash if they move against you," the Cannibal's voice boomed in my mind. I know he was trying to help, but his words had caused even more anxiety to run through my heart.

I glanced over at Rhaenyra. Syrax stood beside her, not looming like the Cannibal but poised, her golden eyes steady and fierce, much like her rider. Rhaenyra's expression was unreadable, her face calm and composed, but I could see the storm beneath it.

She stood there, every bit the queen, exuding an unwavering strength as she fixed her gaze on the mass of men before us—waiting. Rhaenyra's presence was electric, her silence loud, commanding the attention of everyone in sight. The air was thick with tension, the kind that could snap like a bowstring at any moment.

Then, a murmur rippled through the army, the men parting like the sea, revealing Daemon walking through them toward us. Daemon's approach was like the calm before a storm—the moment when the wind stills and the world seems to hold its breath. His presence demanded attention, every soldier around us going stiff, their eyes following him like he was some force of nature. It was impossible not to feel the tension in the air, thick and suffocating, as if even the earth was holding its breath.

I clutched Freya tighter against my chest, her small, fragile form the only thing anchoring me in the midst of the chaos that threatened to spill over at any moment. Her soft breaths were a stark contrast to the growing unease pressing down on us all. She stirred in my arms but didn't wake, oblivious to the turmoil brewing around her. I envied her innocence.

Then it came—a sound that froze my blood and sent a shiver straight down my spine. The unmistakable screech of Caraxes, cutting through the silence like a knife. I looked up, my eyes wide as they locked onto the red beast circling above the burnt forest. Caraxes. The dragon that had nearly ended me once before. His wings beat rhythmically, casting an ominous shadow over the gathered soldiers below, and for a moment, the memory of his snarling jaws, so close to tearing me apart, flashed through my mind.

This was it.

The moment we had both dreaded and anticipated. Would he bend the knee? Would he kneel before Rhaenyra, as he had promised, and finally show the men where his true loyalty lay? Or would he ignite the chaos that simmered just beneath the surface?

My thoughts were a mess, a jumble of fear and dread, of hope and panic. This fragile truce could shatter at any moment, and I wasn't sure we were ready for what would follow. My mind raced with the possibilities, each one more terrifying than the last. I glanced at Rhaenyra, her face stoic as ever, but I could see it—the storm that raged beneath the surface, the quiet tension in her body as she waited for the moment to act. She knew Daemon better than anyone. She knew what he was capable of.

Daemon halted just a few paces from Rhaenyra, the space between them crackling with tension, charged like a storm waiting to break. For now, the distance maintained an uneasy civility, but I could feel the atmosphere shifting, electric with unspoken challenges.