Chapter 14: dragons born
A few weeks later, he was back at storm's end and he performed the ritual to hatch the dragon eggs. He had made a pyre with the dragon eggs and two prisoners, both of which had eaten meat in the last day. It was a blue moon and exactly one minute before dawn. He had covered the eggs in pigs blood and was patiently waiting for dawn to arrive.
"Please, no! Send me to the wall!" One of the prisoners pleaded, whilst the other simply hung his head.
"You have already chosen death over the wall", Renly said calmly. He didn't feel great about burning them alive but at the same time, they were criminals. They had murdererd and raped. Sacrificing them wasn't all too outrageous and it needed to be done if he wanted to have his dragons, so, he watched them scream and cry as their flesh was burned off their bones. It took long but eventually, the fire died out. The criminals were only bones by then but they weren't his main focus, what was was the dragon eggs. He walked through the ashes towards the eggs and saw them broken open, two small dragons lying inside, one gold, one black, the Color's of House Baratheon. They chirped at Renly, curiously sniffing his hand. He did the next part of the ritual, which involved feeding them his own blood whilst reciting a long, Valyrian prayer to bind them to himself and form a link through which they could communicate with him. He could've used speak with animals but that was a waste of magical energy when you could just do the ritual. As the magic trickled into their maws, he could feel a bridge form between them and he heard, deep within his head two voices, no, not voices, images, ideas, they were hungry and scared, they had just been born, it was natural.
Renly fed them roasted meat and they calmed down, curiousity now channeling through their bond. He pushed through emotions of love, they were his children, he had made them.
The two chirped satisfied, crawling on him, resting on his two shoulders.
"You will need names…" Renly muttered, he would need to figure out some names for them…
A/N: please write in the comments name suggestions
Renly carried the two dragons past the dungeons, past his guards and into his room. The Guards were staring at him as he walked past. The rumors would soon start flying.
In his room, he tried something. A Druid could transform into any beast they had seen before. Now, in DnD, dragons were not beasts but these dragons were different, weren't they? They weren't as intelligent as even the dumbest of DnD dragons. He concentrated and shifted, first into a drake, then an amphiptere, both of which worked without resistance but as he tried to turn into a dragon, like the little ones in front of him, something blocked him. The magic of a true dragon, even the kind in Planetos wasn't something a Druid could copy with their wildshape.
A shame but the Amphiptere form worked just as well, he supposed. He opened his eyes. The two dragons were lying on his bed, tired and with a full belly.
A few months later, in Essos, in a manse in Braavos, Viserys was staring at the letter that some of the loyalists had sent ser Willam Darry, it detailed how Renly Baratheon had hatched two dragons, the size of kittens when this letter had been written.
"The usurper's brother has hatched dragons, can you believe it, Dany? We are the dragons! Not him! If a bastard like him could hatch dragons, we must be able to as well… ser Willam Darry, we need to find some dragon eggs!", Viserys told the sickly knight, "I know what father once told me, a true Targaryen with viable dragon eggs can walk onto a pyre and walk out with newly hatched dragons. If the usurper's brother can do that, our purer blood must also be able to do this!"
"Many Targaryens have tried what you are suggesting, none have survived in decades", the knight coughed, "I implore you not to try!"
"They weren't the true king like I am, I will manage to do it!" Viserys said.
Not even a month later, Viserys had sold some of his mother's possessions and bought a dragon egg, it was a smaller egg, not as big as a normal dragon egg, or even one of Renly's eggs, though he didn't know that, he had never seen a true dragon egg. Viserys lit a purr around the egg and- as the fire raged, he rushed in, confident he wouldn't be burned but it wasn't like he intended, the fire burned his flesh like a regular man. One of the servants pulled out the screaming prince, putting out the fire with water. What was left was a bald, scarred boy, scared and in pain. It turns out, he wasn't a true dragon.
Back in Westeros, in storms end, that very same day, Renly was feeding his dragons, now as big as fully grown cats, no longer kittens.
Through their bond, the dragons called at him. He still hadn't named them. He just couldn't find a name that both he and they liked. The golden one was demanding for more meat, whilst the black one wanted to play.
"Food" and "play", echoed in his mind.
The yellow dragon was bigger than the black one. He nicknamed her the big sister until he found a better name. They were both girls, big sister and little sister, yellow and black. They often played with each other and ate together. Even flying they did together, they were inseparable. They sometimes even flied with Renly in his raven form, circling storms end. His children were so cute… they chirped as they ate and played, like birds instead of reptiles. They nuzzled him and purred like cats. They weren't fluffy like cats but still just as cute.