Placed second place in a drabble competition on Throneland.
Title: A Change of Rules
Prompt: (See quote)
Character: Jon Snow
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Spoiler: Book 1 - A Game of Thrones.
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Now this is the Law of the Jungle - as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back -
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
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I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post.
Those were the words that he had spoken while kneeling before the old gods and those were the vows he was breaking as he rode long and hard with Ghost by his side. He was not as strong as Aemon or Mormont, nor did he have a sense of duty like Sam. He was a bastard born Northman and he would never amount to anything more. It was more than a thousand leagues between him and his brother and Jon knew he would think of nothing else.
His loyalty was to his family; to Robb, Arya, Bran, Rickon and Sansa. His loyalty was to Ice which he would gladly use to slit the throat of the boy king who had taken the life of his father.
The grip he had on the reigns tightened as he kicked his mount to move faster, the memory of warning words burrowing deep in his mind.
"It is a treacherous thing, to play the game of thrones," Aemon had said amidst the furs that surrounded him, his fingers shaking despite the fire that roared beside him. "The rules are many. One could easily lose his soul and honour. Your father is an honourable man, is he not, Jon Snow? My father used to believe that honourable men had no place on the Iron Throne. The rules are many," he repeated, a cough escaping him before he continued. "And those who do not follow the rules hardly ever live to tell the tale."
Had that happened to his father? Was it his honour that killed him? Was he unable to follow the rules and play the game the way it was meant to be played? No, he decided. If his father did not choose to play the game then the rules of the game were wrong.
Jon continued to quicken his movements, intent on leaving behind Castle Black and his sworn brothers, but the sound behind him gave him pause. Had he not turned his mount around and moved swiftly towards the brothers that had followed him to convince them to let him be, he would not have heard the words, the reminder of the promise he had made tightening his chest.
"I am the watcher on the walls," they said together. "I pledge my life and honour to the Night's Watch, for this night and all nights to come."
He was no Stark. As much as he wanted to ride to meet Robb and protect his brother from harm, he couldn't. You are stronger together, his father had always said. Stronger with the blood of the Starks and the gods of old.
Could Robb survive the game of thrones without his brothers and sisters? Without his family around him?
Robb would have to forgive him for the choice he had made. He had forsaken their pack to join another. Jon could only pray that his brother was strong enough alone; that he was strong enough to win.
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