The Rise of the Dragon is the first of the short stories written for the New World series. The Rise of the Dragon chronicles the rise, fall, and rebirth of House Targaryan. Spending most of the time in the city of Tree Hill it breaks into the lands of Westros where we get the first glimpse of the land from the eyes of the members of House Targaryan who are fleeing Lucerne for new lands.
Rise of the Dragon first begins in terms of the story during Chapter Four of End of Darkness when Lucas Scott is discussing how Tree Hill has been the constant sight of bloothbaths. Discussing this he mentions the Week of which was the culminating of the end of House Targaryan, and from this we flesh out this beggining. During the main story the current goings on in Dragonstone are only hinted at through rumors of the Targaryans, and then during Westros it is revealed the Rise of Dragonstone after William receives many letters from other kingdoms one of which is from Dragonstone.
The Rise of the Dragon spends a significant time fleshing out the events that culminated in the destruction of House Targaryan in Tree Hill, and the players that were involved in this including the only POV of James Lovie a relatively unknown player in the history of the Kingdom of Lucerne. Following the events of the destruction of House Targaryan it follows the house as it travels eastward and undergoes a series of difficulties before finally settling in the former Dark Elf mountain of Dragonstone. Following this the current events of the Empire of Dragonstone dominate the story, and we see the rise of the Empire of Dragonstone in the region. Following Westros the Rise of the Dragon reengages with Rhaegar, and Deneyres Targaryan leading the massive expansion of Dragonstone into the lands surrounding the city. Attacking first the lands of the west they expand easily but are finally stopped by the Kingdom of Nordling who amasses a large alliance against Dragonstone and forces Rhaegar to leave the south and move to the west alongside much of the southern force. Attempting to besiege the capital of Nordling they fail and are pushed back after Rhaegar has to go south with his force when the Trollocs push north with massive numbers. Rhaegar fights the Trollocs but there numbers defeat him, and only his skill keeps the army from complete defeat
In the Rise of the Dragon the POV characters are James Lovie for brief periods, Rhaegar Targaryan who is the one telling the story of much of what happened, but his story telling is interupted by periods of House Targaryan, House Scott, and House Tyrell members describing the Week, and other events of the story.
"It occured to me almost in a dream that the city the best I had ever seen it, and thats a dangerous place to be. When the whispers begin that Aryes was planning on doing some rather dark things I was actually shocked. I had met him many times, and I had never seen the kind of malice and hatred that he appeared to display now. I don't know what happened to him that would have caused him the kind of change that he clearly underwent."
-Earl Scott
Aryes Targaryan II. would be the Lord of Tree hill following the death of his father Aryes Targaryan I. and he would oversee the complete embaressment of his House from Lucerne. His reign started simply enough with Aryes making himself known as a charismatic, if less then intelligent leader of House Targaryan, but he appeared quite willing to allow his secondary leaders to take a large role. This flexibility was something that people for his short peace period became very much in love with, and thus it was quite a shocking end when it took a dramatic and horrifying turn when there was a hostage situation caused by two vassal houses in house June against house Cash. When Aryes went to the estate of house June in order to solve the problem he was accudently taken hostage by the house June honor guard and during the early part of the captivity he was tortured using a fire pick against his arms. Eventually a member of house June entered the honor gaurd station and discovered the beaten body of Aryes targaryan. The honor gaurd attempted to torture Aryes into not telling anyone about what had happened but as time went on they knew they were going to be caught so they left him there and moved on. House June immediately let him go but the damage was done. While physically everyone who took him in from House Targaryan could see the scars all over his body from the torture it was the hidden emotional scarring that would be the most costly.
Destruction of House June
See Also : House June
Harton June was captured from the ruins of his home, and along with his entire family was strung on spikes down the main street of Tree Hill.
"He completely changed after returning from House June. Where once he listened to the advise of his council, he now secluded himself inside his room where he barely ate, or slept for fear he would be killed. All those who had once advised him on things tried to make him see the world as he once had, but as time went by everyone kind of moved past it, and tried to rule without him."
-Earl Scott
When Aryes targaryan returned to tree hill he withdrew himself into the keep of tree hill and basically disappeared from the public eye for almost a year. When he finally came out he was completed unkeped and he had nails that were insanely long. He had dropped an immense weight due to the fact that he had eaten so little over the time he was hidden. But on top of the physical change he was emotionally changed as well, to the point that he no longer cared about the opinions of others in most cases, and was only interested in protecting what he felt was a grand conspiracy against House Targaryan. The once quiet peacemaker ordered the tree hill army to march on the house June estate and kill everyone inside. When the massacre was complete the city was shocked at the near complete destruction of a large noble house (with only the youngest son, and his sister surviving the massacre), but in this instance the city felt that since house June had started it perhaps this action was necessary. Aryes would not stop at just the wanten destruction, he took it farther and actually gathered all the bodies of House June and had them placed on spikes down the main street where they could be seen by nearly the entire city. Even with all of this many people sort of felt that House June had brought retribution onto themselVes and because of this they were atleast willing to give Aryes the benifit of the doubt. The next retaliation of Aryes targaryan was far beyond the acceptable scenario of the people of Tree Hill.
Destruction of House Cash
"They all thought it was done. They believed that I had somehow accepted that they had caused me pain. I hadn't. I wouldn't forget until the moment came that everyone that had caused the damage was paying the proper price. Would anything but death due, when the penelty was so grave."
-Aryes Targaryan II.
House cash was the other house involved in what Aryes came to believe was a plot to capture and embarrass him, so Aryes once again ordered the tree hill army to do his bidding through the destruction of house cash. Unfortunately for Aryes the army wasn't willing to destroy house cash so Aryes was forced to turn to the house targaryan honor gaurd who moved quickly in the massacre. The honor gaurd moved throughout the house cash home and murdered nearly the entire house in a three hour battle that spilled into the street and ended up leading to the deaths of almost 200 people. With this kind of death count the people of Tree Hill turned swiftly against House Targaryan and their started to be open resisting against their movements. As this rebellion continued the ire of House Lovie was brought in through the involvement of James Lovie who left Lucerne in a convoy to Tree Hill and would arrive in a week.
The Week
"I don't blame anyone for what happened to us back in Lucerne, because I understand what happened. To be a human being means to possess a feeling of inferiority which constantly presses towards its own conquest. The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge for conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation."
-Rhaegar Targaryan
The streets of Tree Hill were a mess as the people of the city were ripped into a frenzy by the efforts of House Tyrell who openly stated their goal of remoing House Targaryan. Joined in this cause were the majority of the population with House Targaryan suported by basically only their most loyal houses, but even they were mainly only defending their own homes. House Targaryan was now in open revolt amongst themselves as well, as the members were being verbally attacked in the street after the massacre which caused them to have to hide themselves into their estate within the city. In only two days following James Lovie getting the letter and leaving Lucerne the House Targaryan estate became under siege by the citizens of Tree Hill along with House Scott, and House Tyrell. The siege continued for three more days before the gate of the estate was finnally breached, and the city waited with held breath for what the people would do as punishment to House Targaryan.
"When they broke through the gates it was done. The situation had spiraled out of control and our only hope had been for James Lovie to show up and save us. With him not close enough yet we all knew we were in serious trouble."
-Rhaegar Targaryan
The siegers entered the estate and begin gathering together all of House Targaryn and before House Scott - who didn't want violence done before James Lovie arrived - could stop it the House was marched to the center of Tree Hill where House Tyrell had erected a temporary executioners square. Over the course of three hours the members of House Targaryan were brought to stand before the city of Tree Hill, and depending on the wishes of the city they were exectuted. The last to be judged was Aryes Targaryan, and before he could say a word Kraven June the eleven year old surviving member of House June stepped forward and stabbed Aryes Targaryan through the neck killing him. With the trials all done the surviving members of House Targaryan retreated back to their estate where there was full scale looting underway. House Scott moved into the estate and offered House Targaryan protection, and it was this act that basically saved what remained of House Targaryan. In the end in the four hour trial of House Targaryan thirty two members of the House were dead including its patriarch in Aryes Targaryan II.
