[♪ epic theme music playing]
[wind lightly whooshing]
[♪ soft, dramatic music playing]
[horse nickering]
[heavy doors open]
[Rhaenyra] [echoing voice] Helaena.
[voice clear] Helaena.
[gasps lightly]
I'm sorry to disturb your rest.
Have you heard w-word from my mother?
No.
Nor do I expect to, until...
[birdsong]
Did Aemond ask you to ride into battle with him?
Hm.
Lord Corlys imagined he would.
When I was a girl, I wanted to fly.
But now, when...
when I'm with Dreamfyre...
it's...
and then too much.
I think our father felt the same way.
He renounced the strength of dragons
and embraced a quieter life.
He did not wish to be changed.
You believe the dragons alter us in some way?
You now have many dragons.
Are you yourself not altered?
[scoffs] No.
Well, I do not wish to be.
I wished only to put an end to our contest
and restore us to our proper order.
[sighs]
Helaena.
Sister, I believe that you...
may be a dreamer.
That you...
see things.
I see f-flashes sometimes.
Some cl-clearer than others.
What did you see last?
A gray mare.
Mm-hmm.
What of Daemon? Have you seen him?
Hm?
The Winter Wolves, then.
Or Tumbleton.
Will Ormund Hightower be brought to heel?
I don't know.
You don't know? Or you will not say?
You may refuse me as your sister,
but I may compel you as your queen.
Now, tell me what you know!
Tell me there has been no mistake,
that I will prevail,
as the gods must surely intend. Tell me.
♪
[grunting]
[groaning]
Mother.
I told you I would come, if I could.
Were you not taken captive?
Your sister was taken.
But I managed to stay hidden, to escape.
You have been so clever to remain here undiscovered.
I thought all had forsaken me.
[sighs]
How could I forsake...
my best...
and truest son?
The city has fallen, Aemond.
- [soft kiss] - You're all I have left.
[Alicent sighs]
The road has been long and perilous,
so I'll be glad of a bed.
What of Aegon?
Aegon is most likely dead.
I did all I could.
And for you.
[whispering] But I have failed you, Aemond.
No.
- I was too young. - Never.
I was just a child.
[sighs, sniffles]
[Alicent moaning]
And in this moment I will give you a son.
[Aemond moaning]
Aemond.
- What have you seen? - [gasps] Please.
[creatures chittering]
[footsteps approaching]
Aemond.
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[Gwayne] Open the gates!
[people chattering]
[chattering continues]
They've crossed the Blackwater Rush.
- How many? - Twenty thousand.
A day's march away. Two at most.
So, your dim but ambitious Dornish friend
died in the mud for nothing.
That is no matter.
I have a piece on the board now
that will bring the bitch to her knees.
And what is that?
[sighs]
[Caraxes bellowing]
[whistling]
[chittering]
- My prince-- - Move!
Where is she? Where's Rhaena?
I see we are dispensing with courtesies.
Is she here?
She flew, just after I sent to you.
I could not hold her.
Put her in chains if you have to, lock her in a cell.
Do you imagine it's so easy to force a dragonrider
to do what she does not wish?
She exposes me, too.
She beseeched me with tears in her eyes,
swore that she would remain here in hiding.
Talk of a dragonrider is rife in the Vale.
The villagers gossip of a wild girl in the mountains
living amongst nettles and sheep.
I am finished with the matter.
It is in my best interest now to alert the queen
- to her flight. - No.
You may blunt Rhaenyra's wrath,
but you will not evade it. Give me a day.
Please.
She has been here and there seeking news of Vhagar.
There's word of a sighting near Fairmarket,
so I can only assume...
[dragon vocalizing]
[Baela] We are two days behind Aemond at best.
I have long tired of this endless searching.
I cannot help but think I'm being punished by Rhaenyra,
or at least sent far from her sight.
She thinks of us only as tools to be wielded.
I wondered, my lady, if I might beg you for a kindness.
My father wishes for Alyn and me to be legitimized
and take the Velaryon name.
The queen is being reluctant.
You know my standing after the Gullet.
I do not think my words would have much sway with her.
But your father, perhaps.
Why this concern now with names and titles?
- [dragon screeching] - I understand your grievance,
but surely, you have a better thing in your dragon
than any lordly appellation.
It is only that if either of us were to marry.
That is...
if either of us gained the favor of some highborn lady.
[scoffs]
He has spoken to you, then. Your brother.
[dragons bellowing]
Is it Vhagar?
No.
I did not think us like to escape the Red Keep.
But Ser Adrian remained steadfast and resolute.
He led us to a secret gate, and--
and I had enough coin with me for horses.
We tried to remain off the roads,
but the forests have become impassable in places.
There are wild men in the woods now.
I would not have arrived here if it wasn't for him.
Rhaenyra took the castle, but he remained loyal.
He helped me at great risk to his own person.
He is a gr-- [gasps]
Have I offended you?
No.
You are all I have left.
- [footsteps receding] - [sighs]
[footsteps approaching]
This is he,
my protector and guide, Ser Adrian.
Your Grace.
Mm.
[sighs]
Well, it seems I owe you a debt.
I did only as my conscience demanded.
The queen dowager was treated shamefully.
- [blade thwacking] - [Alicent] Aemond!
[gurgling]
[body thuds]
Sorry, Mother.
There are secrets here, and I can trust no stranger.
[Alys] Ah, there you are.
You're just in time for supper.
[liquid pouring]
The maesters tell me the fat of livestock
is beneficial to the bones.
But I do wonder how something so slippery in substance
can truly be benign. [chuckles]
Do try the wine, Lord Corlys.
I find it wards off the fetid air of this place.
Mm.
What are you about, Hightower?
Is this some kind of final repast?
Pigeon pie before the executioner's block?
On the contrary.
We hope to enjoy the pleasure of your company
for quite some time.
You will be of great assistance to us in our little endeavor.
- As what? A hostage? - Hm.
Does the savage queen harbor such a tender heart
that she should cast away her crown
for the sake of her wayward Hand?
I think not.
The Velaryons, however,
with their lord as forfeit, the men of Driftmark
will think better of entering King's Landing.
And without them, the city will again eat of its own disorder.
H-How will that help
when the Winter Wolves are clawing at our gates?
Do you know?
More and more I am inclined
to limit my diet...
to the vegetable kingdom.
Just as the people of Naathi do.
If you have finished with your instruction--
What do you see in them, anyway?
The Targaryen...
element.
You are a traveled man,
you have seen the world's wonders.
Why limit yourself in tedious alliance
to the brutish and the incurious?
Your wife, of course, was of their blood.
That ended all too predictably.
I would think, after having seen
how they devour one of their own...
I would like to return to my cell.
As you please.
Oh, Lord Corlys?
Before you go...
He was in uncommon good spirits...
as though he were on the eve of some great victory.
He seems to believe that with Lord Corlys as hos--
Is this his "piece on the board"?
What does the order or disorder of King's Landing
matter to us now with an army at the gates?
I'm supposed to be the king.
What sort of ruler am I?
Am I to sit by impotent while a madman
offers us up for the slaughter?
And all of our men with us?
Seems there's no escaping it.
The dream some have of covering themselves in everlasting glory...
of somehow transcending humanity's common fate.
I am sorry about your friend.
[sniffling]
He gave himself to the dust.
I could order the army to surrender.
[scoffs] And then what?
Have us all marched to the gallows?
You could fly away on Tessarion.
Without you as a pretext for--
He would continue as he began.
Where would I go?
Who would receive a king who left his own men to their ruin?
I have no fear of insignificance, Gwayne.
Rhaenyra may keep her crown, for all I care.
[chuckles softly]
[Torrhen Manderly] Frankly, it is outrageous.
There is a campaign against me! Jeering in the streets.
My own daughter found the doorstep of my city dwelling
smeared with some sort of foul matter.
I don't know what you want me to do about it.
My queen.
With respect.
In front of petitioners, you named me responsible
for the current financial grievances in the city.
I hardly be--
Well, what have you done to alleviate them?
What can I do?
I have advocated for a tax. It has fallen on deaf ears.
Our dribbles of gold are spent as fast as they are gathered.
It's as if I have been installed here
as some sort of scapegoat.
Has there been any word from Lord Corlys?
From Harrenhal?
- And Daemon? - [Orwyle] Absent.
The prince is on some... errand of his own.
The Keepers say he flew out of the city before dawn.
The river host are but a day's march
from Tumbleton, Your Grace,
and the Velaryon forces will be at King's Landing on the morrow.
I have a reputation to uphold.
If Ser Adrian has been successful
in his endeavor, of course,
then there is the small matter of Harrenhal--
Just take it.
Your Grace?
Return to the Twins
and lead the men you have left there to Harrenhal.
[gasps]
This I will do gladly!
If Aemond is dead, all the better.
But in any case, you shall occupy it again, and leave no place
- for him to return. - [door opens]
- [Addam] My queen. - [footsteps approaching]
We have seen something strange.
- Vhagar? - No.
Sheepstealer. In the Riverlands,
on the banks of the Blue Fork near Fairmarket.
That is unexpected. He's not known--
Your Grace, he has a rider.
- A new rider? - I could not say.
We gave chase, but lost him in the hills.
[high-pitch ringing, sounds muffling]
That head Daemon brought to you,
can you say in honesty you've had no doubts?
He was long in the Riverlands, and now Sheepstealer
is sighted there with a rider he assured you was dead.
And in that same moment,
he has absented himself without explanation.
I have known him to lie, but this is a great--
You and I have known him to be capable of far worse than lies.
He has chafed since you arrived here
over your restraint in wielding power.
He is impetuous and impatient.
Who can say what alliance he may have formed in secret
- when he found you lacking. - He has sworn to serve me.
I cannot believe that now, when I need him most,
- that he would-- - Forgive me.
Your Grace.
But is there anything Daemon could do
that you would truly not believe?
Fetch Ser Addam.
They say it is the strength of the sun in Volantis
that makes for such sweetness in the grape.
If you mean to console me for this folly
with Volantene wines, you're much mistaken.
Your Grace, I beg you, reconsider.
At Maidenpool, we might take ship for Casterly Rock instead.
[Aegon] No, I am decided on Braavos.
How much further must we ride?
Some days still to the port.
Braavos will prove itself a most cultivated city,
- I assure you. - [pig squealing]
Perhaps even a home from home.
[pig squealing]
Whoa.
My good woman, what is it you flee?
An army marches this way.
- Some thousand strong. - Which army?
My daughter said she saw the red fish on the white.
- The Mootons. - That's where we are going, to Maidenpool.
We must keep moving. Turn back if you can.
Mootons are sworn to Rhaenyra.
They can't have heard about me?
Hyah.
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[distant people chattering]
[Tyland] The road is lost to us.
We must fall back to Rook's Rest.
We can't go back there. We may have been discovered.
There is an army coming for us and we have no place to shelter.
There are thick walls at Rook's Rest
and enough men to defend them.
It shall be refuge for His Grace till Mooton's host has passed.
[utensils clacking]
- [Aemond] Mm. - [Alys] You must be famished.
It's a long journey from King's Landing.
Yes.
And fraught, no doubt.
If half the tales I have heard about the King's Road are true.
How is it that the two of you
- came to know one another? - Mm.
She saved my life.
At whose behest?
Your lord's?
I generally follow my own dictates.
[laughing] Aemond, I still don't understand who this woman is.
[sighs]
Mm.
She is a lady.
And a maester, of sorts.
The care of the castle has fallen to her for now.
I've decided to stay here with her
and make this place my seat.
Your seat?
Was that not what you yourself suggested?
A new fortress from which to rule.
Rhaenyra has the throne and six dragons to her name.
It is she who rules now, as much as we might wish it otherwise.
Mm.
Rhaenyra's dragons are ridden by commoners.
She's defiled our great house, diminished the Iron Throne,
and sowed the seeds of her own ruin.
She will certainly fail.
And we will raise our own throne.
In the mud of the Riverlands.
A new dawn is coming.
A new line of unsullied kings.
We need only to bide our time.
And you, Mother.
You will wait with us.
You have worth yet to offer.
I'm sure your mother will wish to move on.
Back to Oldtown, perhaps.
Our climate doesn't seem to suit her.
Mm, there's nothing for her there. I am all she has left.
- [Alicent] There is Helaena. - No!
You'll stay with us.
We're out of wood.
[plate clattering]
I will not be coddled or admonished like a witless child.
Tread carefully with her, Aemond.
She's come to do you some ill.
She is my blood.
- [wood chopping] - And thus without blemish?
She's always had her secrets, most of them poorly kept.
My designs for our future did not include your mother.
And there is the truth of it.
You want me for yourself.
There is a fog that surrounds her.
She has come to do you some evil.
You would be wise to keep your dark thoughts to yourself.
You Targaryen boys all want the same thing, don't you?
[panting]
[sniffling]
[breathing heavily]
[♪ dramatic music playing]
- [panicked chatter] - [baby crying]
Tom Tangletongue, what news?
Lord Mooton of Maidenpool, he's dispatched an army.
They're marching in haste.
Have you not seen our Janos? I thought he'd be with you.
No. Where are they marching?
They were commanded here, to Rook's Rest.
But they're going village to village, it seems,
in search of your friend Lannister.
Something about the queen's gold.
They'll be here before w-we know it. You'd best be on the move.
[groaning]
[grunting]
I think you'll agree, Ser Tyland,
that you should give yourself up.
She will flay me alive.
No doubt. But once Mooton has you in hand,
he'll turn towards King's Landing, and His Grace and I
- may yet slip away. - Give the king to me and my men.
We will ride hard and escape Mooton's clutches.
Oh, must you be so thick?
Rhaenyra is hunting you.
His Grace is not safe in your company.
Turn yourself in and give him the chance to flee.
[Tyland] Him or you?
[Larys] It is the honorable thing to do.
- Your Grace, for now, at least-- - No.
No.
Go where you will.
Both of you.
Preserve your own skins.
But I shall run no more.
If you do not run, Your Grace, you will die.
Then I'll die.
But not as a fugitive.
Unknown. Covered in dust.
Not with an arrow in my back or trapped like a fox in a hole.
This-- this is absurd. Ser Tyland, I entreat you
- to reason with His Grace. - I'll make my stand here.
Mm. And be buried as a king.
With my dragon.
I will not have the histories say that I was slain
in ignominy by my own brother.
If the king wishes to remain, then...
I shall remain with him.
I cannot leave him to face an army meant for me.
[horses neighing]
You're resolved in this then?
Well then, my lords...
it seems there is only one thing left for me to do.
May the Seven be ever at your side.
[Tyland] You would abandon your master?
I am a cripple, Ser Tyland.
Humble enough to admit that my presence in a fight
would make no earthly difference.
Of course, if my king commanded me to stay...
What Lord Larys says is true.
He would be no use to us here.
Well, then.
It will be my duty to see that King Aegon is remembered.
His heroic last hours immortalized through story...
- [chuckles softly] - ...and song.
Your Grace.
[sighs]
Your Grace.
Come, come, come.
[Sheepstealer bellowing]
[screeching]
[Caraxes whistling]
[chittering]
[bellowing]
[dragons screeching, bellowing]
- Stay back! - You swore to me.
- You should not have come. - Did you think she would not hear of this?
Stay back! He does not heed me!
[roaring]
Daor!
[screeching]
Daor!
What do you hope to do here? In the reeds and the mud?
Vhagar was here.
Or near here, last I heard.
We heard the same, but she is gone.
Then I will fly in search of her.
And if you find her?
I thought I could do this, but I can't.
I cannot live the way I have, cut off from all who loved me.
And so, you think by going after Vhagar, you will...
what?
If I kill her,
I will have paid some of my debt to Rhaenyra.
I would at least have grounds to sue for her mercy.
- You will more likely die. - Then I will have paid all of it.
I will die absolved if I cannot live that way.
[Sheepstealer roars]
Let me help you, then.
You cannot battle Vhagar alone.
But the two of us may yet prevail.
Why would you do such a thing?
I had no dragon either when I was young.
Did you know that?
My mother died in childbed when I was three years of age.
My brother sank into sadness.
I was alone, just as you have been.
I should have done better, Rhaena.
[Caraxes whistling]
- You lie. - I did not summon them.
- You'd betray your own daughter? - I have not, I swear it.
She does not yet know who you are.
[bellowing]
[Daemon] Leave him.
They will tear you from the sky.
[whimpering]
Run! Run!
[dragon roaring]
[dragons bellowing]
Go!
[dragons vocalizing]
[speaking High Valyrian]
- Call off your dragon! - What is your agreement
with Sheepstealer's rider? Answer carefully.
You will not have another chance to deceive me.
I never wished to deceive you.
- Then, speak! - Call off your dragon.
[dragons bellowing]
[grunting]
[Rhaena shouting]
Please. Rhaenyra.
She's not herself.
- [Rhaena shouting] - [dragons vocalizing]
Rhaena?
It wasn't you.
She was Sheepstealer's rider?
All this time, you knew.
This is finished!
[dragons roaring]
Move!
[roaring continues]
[shouting in High Valyrian]
[screeching]
- Your Grace! - Help Daemon! Go!
Go!
[dragons continue roaring]
[Rhaenyra shouting]
[gasping]
With me!
[screeching]
No!
[screeching continues]
Escort the queen. I will finish this.
[screeching]
[grunting]
[Yelping, screeching]
[grunting]
[whimpers]
[Mysaria] It is magnificent in its way.
[Madam Sylvi] I saw it once before when I petitioned the queen.
Do you know what it brings to my mind?
A hundred sharp little cocks all vying for attention.
The queen wishes at the moment
to hear no more petitions.
That is a mistake.
I agree.
There is villainy and violence on her streets now.
The people are afraid to go out by night.
It is to her detriment only.
Those who look to her for relief
now feel she's turned her back on them.
I wished to hear from you how you fare in this city.
And if there are others who may find it a consolation
to come to me with their troubles
and have them considered.
You make yourself her proxy.
Someone must. Do you not agree?
If she herself is reluctant,
I can perhaps then bring certain dilemmas before her
when I judge her mood to be more accommodating.
You are changed.
This... has changed you.
My heart is with the downtrodden as it has ever been.
Is it?
Or have you styled yourself a champion
in order to access these halls?
Look at you.
Standing at the foot of the throne
wearing a silk worth a year of my earnings,
promising to whisper into the ear of a queen.
You thrill now to a tune you once abhorred.
Does it not occur to you that from this position
I may help those who have no avenue?
What power do you have in truth?
Except to flatter and cajole?
Ah.
Is that why you called me here?
To look on the trappings so that someone would hold you in awe?
This was a mistake.
How common I must seem to you.
That will be all.
Some advice, my lady.
These people are not your own.
You would do well to remember that.
Within the walls of the highborn,
a whore will always and ever remain a whore.
[footsteps receding]
[dragons bellowing]
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[bellowing continues]
Find her a room.
I do not wish to see her.
[Alicent] Aemond?
Mother.
Your friend Alys.
- She's not my friend. - Oh.
She doesn't want me to stay here.
If I'm disturbing some understanding between--
No.
- I should perhaps not have come. - No.
I will-- I will take my leave, if that would behoove you.
I'm glad you came.
I brought you something.
[cup scraping]
Spiced wine.
I remember a time when you would not fall asleep without it.
Alys doesn't trust you.
Who do you trust?
I...
I tried to kill Aegon.
I know.
[whispering] My dear...
foolish boy.
Your Grace.
[door opens]
- [door closes] - No, stay.
She implored me not to tell you.
She could not face you. I wished only to protect her.
From what?
What do you think I am?
Y-You are my wife.
She's my daughter. One I-I-I have long neglected.
Was she not seeking, in all this, my favor or yours?
I have looked a hundred times at that skull you brought...
thinking it was the villain who killed my son.
I am sorry,
but you must see now that I kept no scheme against you.
I did only what I thought was best, Rhaenyra.
Please.
It's late.
[door opens, closes]
[♪ somber music playing]
[whispering] I am sorry.
To Jace.
To you. You would have been queen.
[Baela] Enough.
[♪ somber music continues playing]
You will begin anew.
[Alyn] More Hightower loyalists were found. Alert the confessors.
[guard] Ser Alyn.
It was left for you.
[breathing shakily]
[owl screeching]
[bird squawking]
[thud]
Alys.
Idiot.
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[screaming]
[baby crying]
[baby continues crying]
[whimpers]
[gasps]
[Dreamfyre chirping]
[snarling and screeching]
Dracarys!
[chickens clucking]
[♪ gentle music playing]
[wind whistling]
[distorted noises intensifying]
[fire crackling softly]
[♪ soft, dramatic music playing]
[bones rattling]
[Rhaenyra] It was Rhaena he was hiding all along.
He lied. I did not lead you astray.
And yet you cannot say he betrayed me
so much as he would not betray his daughter.
This time.
But does it not prove he is willing to deceive you
- if he judges it necessary? - [scoffs]
And you've never done the same?
I've acted only in your interests.
You have sought to turn me from him.
Pouring your honey in my ear, whispering, encouraging,
seeking to make me in your image.
In my image?
Your Grace, have I ever counseled you to do aught
but what Viserys would have you do in his place?
As you have ofttimes said, is your own desire.
Yes, and in hewing to his vision, what have I reaped?
Peace? Prosperity?
Ah, the gratitude of my subjects.
My father was not a dreamer.
But his whole life was a dream.
Do not lose faith.
You are on the precipice of a great victory.
The uncertainties that oppress you
will soon be resolved.
Those who oppose you will fall away.
Even Aemond is all but vanquished.
You will be queen for many years after this.
And your children's children after you.
Just a little longer.
Do you think...
I am worthy?
In this moment, my queen.
Rhaenyra.
I have never been more certain of it.
[♪ soft, dramatic music playing]
[faint rhythmic beating]
[faint beating continues]
[beating grows louder]
A final stand then, Ser Tyland.
Your Grace.
We claim this land for Rhaenyra, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
You will throw down your arms
and make ready to swear your fealty.
[softly] Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
[Tyland] Your Grace?
Will you flee after all?
We shall not surrender to the false queen.
[laughter]
Is that you, Tyland Lannister?
Your queen's been looking for you.
Tell us where the gold is,
and you will die with your ears still attached.
Behold me now!
[horse whinnying]
I am Aegon Targaryen!
- Viserys' true heir! - [distant bellowing]
The sixth King of the Andals and the Rhoynar
and the First Men!
I was anointed by the High Septon
in the light of the Seven.
And it is in their light that I stand before you now!
Strike me down!
And the Stranger will take retribution.
The Warrior's sword will be judgment upon you.
[dragon snarling]
[chuckles] Yes.
Yes, cowards.
- You might well retreat. - [rumbling]
For now you see me as I truly am!
- [dragon snarling] - [gasping softly]
Dreadful in vengeance!
- Righteous and glorious! - [horses whinnying]
[dragon bellowing and growling]
[dragon chirping]
[whispering] Sunfyre.
[Sunfyre chittering]
Sunfyre.
Dracarys.
Run! Save yourselves!
[soldiers screaming]
[Aegon yelling]
[screaming continues]
[Aegon continues yelling]
[Aegon laughing]
[bellowing]
Oh.
Decent ale, that.
I thought you might enjoy it.
- [gulping] Mm. - I have had word...
since we last spoke of a most distressing incident.
My whisperers tell me that Daemon Targaryen struck you.
In the street.
In front of all the commoners passing by.
An intolerable insult to someone of your stature.
But then, uh, it's almost to be expected from those people.
She did tell me not to go into town.
- To be fair. - Ludicrous.
A man needs his sustenance and cheer.
But it is obvious Rhaenyra and her ilk
regard you only as a tool.
To be used and reprimanded.
Whereas I understand...
who you really are.
You said last time...
that you could give me a lordship.
And a castle.
Honeyholt.
Honeyholt?
[chuckles] Honeyholt is a trifle.
It seems that Driftmark itself
may soon be without a master.
Lord of the Tides.
What do you think of that?
- [chuckles] - [mugs clanking]
They will laugh at you no more...
when they see you as you are.
No.
They will burn.
♪