3rd Second Moon 273 AC

  The Red Keep is growing colder, not necessarily in temperature but still there's a chill in the air. I'd say it's actually the atmosphere.

  The weight of schemes, plots, lies and treachery whispered in the shadows yet so clearly visible it's almost embarrassing how dull courtiers can be. I suppose it is simply the everyday experience of a royal court full of half-witted power grubbing lords and ladies.

  Today... well tonight the coldness of the keep doesn't bother me as much as it usually would. I've achieved a small victory, in the grand scheme of things it's minor but a victory is still a victory.

  I've charmed and swayed, the doomed to die, Ser Gwayne Gaunt he's member of the Kingsguard specifically he is however tasked with my protection. He's loyal enough but what matters is his loneliness, he is simply an opportunity to exploit. I gave him some attention talked to him about mundane things and he fell hook, line and sinker. Gwayne isn't Arthur Dayne but he's decent enough in the arts of combat, an ally is an ally, a tool is a tool after all. I plant the seeds now and when the storm comes I shall have trees to shield some of the blow. The man speaks of his family and duties, what he left behind to become one of the seven guards. He promised to start personally teaching me swordplay, in private of course at my own insistence. Aerys certainly won't approve in his madness or in his lucidity. He is still however rather lucid the Defiance at Duskendale hasn't pushed him off the proverbial edge just yet.

  Court itself was apparently as dull as it usually is today, no matter that though today I found myself in the library. I poured over any text I could find specifically on the Valyrian Freehold and it's magics. To be blunt, it was painfully difficult, Westerosi scholars and Maesters certainly don't write with the same level of clarity as modern historians did. I did however confirm something I already thought I knew from my more... special knowledge. The dragonlord's magic required sacrifices usually of blood but potentially of materials too. The exact methods were maddeningly vague, I doubt there was much there anyway royal library or not. There definitely isn't a how to guide on blood magic, maybe in Valyria itself but not here. Dragonstone perhaps has more information but not much I'd wager. If I'm to put all these fragments together I'll have to progress in learning High Valyrian no matter how difficult mastering that strange tongue is for me.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Magic, real actual magic just out of reach... the thought is almost intoxicating. The answers lay in the East and potentially a few can be found in the North?

  No matter, I'm simply not ready for that kind of travel, the body of a six year old child being an obvious reason.

  I've let the rumours spread amongst the servants and even the peasants "The Stranger Touched Prince" they call me. Good let them fear what they don't understand, let them think what they wish to think and believe. Fear is a useful tool in certain circumstance. The blood of the dragon flows through my veins now, whether I like that or not. "The Lion shouldn't concern itself with the opinions of the sheep" Tywin once said something to that effect, let the same be said for the dragon. I wonder if the blood itself carries more than innate magic of fire and dragons, perhaps it carries the madness that festers in Aerys and Rhaegar. Is that madness the magic or in the inbreeding? I suppose it may be both... a dangerous thought, am I mad. No I am not mad, I won't be. I had a thought about magic that doesn't lay far away, specifically the magic that is in the city itself. Wildfire, the Alchemist's Guild. I'm not mad enough to try and recreate it on my own, I value not being burnt alive rather painfully at that. It however hasn't stopped me from theorising on how it's made.

  Speculated Ingredients of Wildfire?

  To start there has to be a base fuel of some kind, it's perhaps alchemical in nature similar to the elusive Greek Fire I'd guess.

  Some kind of tar or oil?

  Next comes an oxidizing agent... saltpeter? I'm not sure on this.

  Now apart from the spells used in wildfire's creation there is almost definitely some kind of magic catalyst. Powdered dragonbone? No probably not perhaps obsidian powder or sulphur? Whatever it is, it must have a link to fire and heat.

  Or it's blood... Fire and Blood.

  Wildfire is known for being unstable at best and dangerous to handle... there has to be some kind of stabilizing ingredient whether magical or chemical I don't know.

  Wildfire burns hotter than normal fire and practically impossible to extinguish in large amounts, water won't work... sand however does. Another thought is why it burns green, possibly due to a copper compound or magic. It's a thought for another time.

  Either way the Guild keeps the formula a tightly bound secret, I'll have to acquire it somehow... in the meantime I have want to practice basic blood magic. I shall gain one of the castles rat catchers under my employ... there is a mute one. Now that's fortunate for me... I'll call him Cheese for the irony if nothing else. I'll start practicing with rats for now, as I learn more I'll progress to more substantial animals.

  I must be careful with this though, one misstep and well I may end burning just as brightly as the Wildfire I want to study.