A Song of Ice and Fire: Wrath of the Sleeping Dragon

Thwack—

A crossbow bolt, shot out of the darkness, pierced an unsuspecting guard's throat without any resistance.

The sharp tip emerged from the back of the guard's neck, glinting coldly. Blood sprayed onto the nearby wall.

The guard's eyes widened, seemingly unable to comprehend the sudden arrival of death.

"Heh, heh, heh—"

He tried to say something, but his airway was filled with gushing blood, resulting in an indistinct sound. He reached out to pull the bolt from his neck, but he lost all strength before he could even touch it.

Thud—

His body collapsed to the ground, knees buckling.

Viserys was standing not far from the fallen guard. Due to the angle, he was not visible from around the corner.

In fact, he was quite close to the guard who had just been killed; they had even been conversing moments before, with a smile on the guard's face.

But in the blink of an eye, the hot blood splattered across the young Targaryen's clean face.

Everything had happened so quickly and unexpectedly that both Viserys and the other guard were stunned, standing in place as if petrified.

However, the surviving guard reacted more quickly than Viserys.

He seemed to have caught a glimpse of a pair of cruel, gleaming eyes in the darkness.

"Attack!"

The guard drew his sword from his waist and pulled Viserys back, wiping the blood from his face as he came to his senses.

"Your Highness, run!"

The young guard shielded Viserys, covering the young king's retreat. Viserys, his face smeared with blood, didn't hesitate or argue.

He turned and ran.

Thwack—

In the darkness, the tension in the bowstring erupted once again.

Another crossbow bolt shot out from the shadows, this time aimed at Viserys, who had finally come into view.

Unfortunately for the attacker, Viserys was running so fast that the bolt missed its mark. Hitting a moving target was much more difficult than a stationary one.

The bolt grazed the boy's hair, taking a strand of his silver-gold locks with it before embedding itself in the wall.

Crash—

Splintered stone and dust flew as the bolt's fletching quivered, indicating the tremendous force behind the shot.

"That was close!"

Viserys first felt a chill by his ear, followed by a burning pain.

But at the moment, he had no time to worry about the pain in his face. His heart pounded, terror filling his mind.

He just wanted to escape.

...

"Damn it!"

"Botched!"

In the darkness not far away, the mercenary who had launched the ambush with a crossbow looked grim as he saw that his second shot had missed, allowing the Targaryen boy to escape.

Worse still, the shout of the guard had likely alerted the entire Stonedrum Tower.

Their exposure here might even jeopardize the plan of their leader and other brothers to intercept and kill Queen Rhaella on the other side.

"Run!"

The man named Randon, with his battleaxe on his back, had a somewhat gloomy face, and the red and black war paint made him look quite ferocious.

He suddenly stood up from the darkness and strode towards Viserys.

The seven people who carried out this mission were all skilled members of their group. After all, this mission was crucial, and they needed a small but elite team.

Otherwise, if they were discovered by the fleet of Dragonstone, even if they brought their entire mercenary group, they would all end up as fish food in the sea.

The seven split into two groups after entering the castle of Dragonstone. Three of them went to kill Viserys, while the leader took the other three to attack the better-defended Queen Rhaella.

They thought that three people were more than enough to kill a child, and their primary task was to deal with Prince Targaryen's guards.

Randon chased after Viserys with large strides, but the loyal Dragonstone guards would not let them pass so easily.

"Stop!"

The guard held a shield in one hand and a longsword in the other, blocking their path in the corridor.

Although his voice was loud and clear, there was a slight tremble.

"Who are you?"

Still, he did not flee, instead trying to buy time for Viserys to escape.

Dragonstone had once been Prince Rhaegar Targaryen's domain, so these guards had followed him, and they were utterly loyal to the Targaryen family.

Viserys did not know how his nearly perfect elder brother had such great charisma that every person who had ever met him sang his praises.

But in his memory, his older brother was indeed talented and handsome.

He remembered once when his brother took him to the royal forest for an outing, only to encounter an attack from a fully grown wild boar. Rhaegar held Viserys and, with just one hand and a sword, elegantly took down the boar.

But Rhaegar did not chase it down to kill it; instead, he let the injured wild boar escape.

In any case, the late prince had become synonymous with perfection.

Now, the loyal Dragonstone guard did not flee but bravely confronted the attackers, delaying Viserys's escape.

Clang—

The well-trained, skilled guard and the bloodthirsty mercenaries engaged in combat, with the guard fighting against three men in the narrow corridor.

Clang, clang—

The guard's longsword blocked the other two attackers, and in the darkness, the clash of metal created sparks.

But then, a battleaxe came crashing down, and the Targaryen soldier had no choice but to raise his left hand's round shield to resist.

The next second.

Crash—

Wood splinters flew as the large mercenary, wielding his battleaxe, struck the guard's round shield with a mighty blow, nearly splitting it in half.

The Dragonstone guard had not expected such strength and paled with shock.

His body wobbled, nearly falling to the ground.

However, the ruthless mercenaries showed no mercy.

The large man swung his axe again, taking the guard's head clean off without a scream.

Thud—

The guard's head rolled to the ground, blood spraying everywhere.

The headless body slumped against the wall and fell.

Viserys, at this moment, had just reached the spiral staircase on the third floor of the Drum Tower.

Gasping for breath, he turned his head just in time to witness the scene.

The brave guard had bought him enough time with his life but was brutally killed by the enemy in a matter of moments.

Viserys watched the enemy approach him again, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Damn it..."

The silver-haired boy gritted his teeth and then, once again, turned and ran as fast as he could.