Chapter One
The Beheading
Myles Storm stared at the surface of the red apple in his hand. How he was going to miss these beautiful, delectable apples. Once winter set in trade from the southern cities would become a thing of dreams and the beautiful apples Myles loved would also become a thing of dreams until summer returned.
Suddenly the sound of an arrow whistling through the air caught Myles' attention as said arrow found itself imbedded in a nearby barrel. Myles stared in surprise because only moments ago he had been standing there. Luckily for Myles he had changed his mind and decided to stand elsewhere when the Stark boys decided to practice. Now he stood leaning against post near where Rickon sat on a horse's saddle.
Myles took a bite from his favourite treat and continued to watch the young Brandon Stark practice his archery skills before his father and Myles' liege lord. Lord Eddard Stark was an honest man, a loyal man, although some have questioned that truth Myles never had. Myles now looked up to Lord Stark as a father figure, especially since his relationship with his own father was rocky.
"Go on, Father's watching," Jon Snow said. "And your mother," he added.
Upon hearing these words from Jon Myles could not help but glance from Lord Stark to his wife, Lady Catelyn Stark. In thiat brief moment Lady Stark glanced down at Myles and out of respect Myles bowed his head slightly towards her. She quickly returned the gesture. No words were said.
It was a strange life Myles found himself living in Winterfell. Despite the obvious fact that he was a bastard, much like Jon Snow, but obviously of the Stormlands, Myles had been able to find a place within the Stark family. Although Myles shared this in common with Jon there were many things he did not. Lady Stark was one of them. Myles had a good relationship with Lady Stark and Lady Stark had a good relationship with him.
Their relationship was one of close friendship. Since they are both not native to the northern lands of Westeros they quickly formed a bond over this fact despite the fact Myles had only seen the Riverlands when they were covered in the blood of the dead.
Myles took another bite of his apple and continued to watch Bran as he attempted to show off the skills he clearly lacked. The only reason Myles was attending this failing show of achievement was to assess for himself whether or not Bran had the makings of a real challenge.
Of all the sworn swords loyal to Lord Stark and House Stark Myles was by far the best, although he had yet to challenge any of the senior sworn swords. Although Myles was constantly looking for a challenge he respected his seniors enough to know they would not appreciate appearing weak before their liege lord so Myles stuck to challenging his liege lord's sons, which might have been a worse decision if he had been a part of any other family.
Again and again Bran tried only to fail over and over again. Myles faked a smile and pretended to laugh with the Stark boys Robb and Rickon and the bastard Jon Snow as if he was truly a member of this family when the entire kingdom knew he was not and never could be.
Myles may be a bastard and a sworn sword to Lord Stark but he was not related by blood to House Stark. Myles' heritage was a much more open one. Myles Storm is the bastard son of the fallen prince Rhaegar Targaryen, or was. How and why Myles had come into this world was not something Myles ever concerned himself in learning and it was not like his father was ever going to tell him the truth. The man despised Myles to the point where neither of them had ever shared a single word. Myles loathed his father and it was this hate that allowed Myles to live through Robert's Rebellion and cursed his father to die.
"And which one of you was a marksman at ten?" Lord Eddard Stark questioned drawing Myles attention back to the present. "Keep practicing, Bran," he encouraged. "Go on," he urged.
Myles sighed as he remembered the moments when Lord Stark spoke to him like that. Myles had been young then, not much older than Bran was now. Lord Stark had taken Myles in as his ward when it would have been easier to ignore him like everyone else did. But Lord Stark had seen something in Myles the day they first met and although it would have been easier to give up on him or even kill him like everyone else wanted, he did not. Myles was thankful for that.
"Don't think too much, Bran," Jon instructed.
Easier said than done, Myles thought. Myles was constantly thinking but he was so concerned over what others thought of him he could not switch it off and not care about those sorts of things. There were things Myles could ignore. Like the fact he had killed more men than he had fingers to count them on, and how people reacted this. But it was the obvious things he could not ignore. Not when it stared him in the face every day.
Being born a bastard did not change his heritage it merely only masked it from a distance. Myles was lucky enough to be born with dark almost black hair, which was not very Targaryen, but he unfortunately gained his father's dark indigo eyes. This made it hard for people to recognise him from a distance but easy to recognise when the stood in front of him.
So every morning Myles woke he found himself staring into his father's eyes. It never allowed him to forget the truth no matter how hard he wished he could. Myles truly regretted not closing his eyes because now he was forever haunted by his father's face, more often of late than ever.
"Relax your bow arm," Robb said as Myles finished off his apple.
Suddenly an arrow appeared in the centre of the target despite the fact Bran had not released the arrow he held. Bran turned backwards allowing Myles to find the person responsible for the bullseye accuracy. Standing behind Robb, Bran and Jon was Arya Stark with a bow in her hand. Myles let the corner of his mouth curl up. He was not surprised. This was Arya, the true Arya. She was not one for sewing and making dresses. She preferred the sort of things they did, what the boys did, and she was good at them, although she could use some help in her sword handling skills.
Arya bowed slightly angering Bran who quickly proceeded to chase after her for showing him up and as Bran ran after his sister Robb and Jon started laughing while Myles silently joined in giving the appearance he was enjoying himself. Myles did not laugh anymore. You could claim the cold of the north had frozen his humour. He no longer found anything truly funny. He would smile from time to time but he had not truly laughed in years.
Myles threw away the remaining apple core he held before dusting himself down and proceeding on with his day, or he was about to. Myles noticed Ser Rodrik Cassel approach Lord and Lady Stark when Myles attempted to leave Robb and Jon behind. This meant something was happening somewhere that required Lord Stark's attention and moments later Myles found himself standing before his replacement.
Up until The Greyjoy Rebellion Myles had served under Lord Stark as his ward, but upon the end of that failed rebellion Myles stood aside so that the young Theon Greyjoy could become Lord Stark's ward. Myles was not happy to step aside but by that time Myles had learned enough to survive on his own and although Myles was given the chance to return to King's Landing, by the new king of Westeros himself, Myles declined. He chose to remain beside Lord Stark where he swore his allegiance to House Stark.
"Lord Stark requests you saddle up your infernal beast of a horse and prepare yourself for a beheading," Theon said with a glare.
Myles and Theon did not share a friendly relationship. Theon despised Myles. In the beginning it was because Myles was like a true member of the Stark family despite the fact he was not. Then Theon hated Myles because of who he was and in return Myles ignored Theon and let him boil in his own hate. Although in truth Myles neither disliked nor hated Theon Greyjoy Myles could never bring himself to agree with the boy. Theon claimed he knew everything when he clearly didn't.
"I heard the guards found a member of the Night's Watch who abandoned his post," Theon said with a grin. "Should be fun," he added. "Although there are others who deserve to be beheaded first," Theon said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Myles nodded acknowledging Theon's statement. There were others who deserved to be beheaded before some and one of them was standing before him right now. Although Myles could say he did not hate Theon he had nothing against killing him to rid his life of him. But Myles remained composed because this is what Theon wanted. Myles knew Theon was important to Lord Stark only because Theon was leverage against the current Lord of the Iron Islands, who led that failed rebellion against King Robert.
Theon wanted Myles to attack or attempt to kill him so Lord Stark would have a reason to cast Myles out and although Myles relationship with Lord Stark goes back almost seventeen years he knew he had to tread carefully around Theon. One day Myles will be rid of Theon whether it would through his own death or Theon's Myles was unsure.
When it became clear that Myles wasn't going to make a move against him Theon gave in and turned away from the older and taller Myles. Myles silently watched as Theon re-entered the castle to inform Lord Stark that he had spoken to Myles. Once gone Myles continued on his way but instead of continuing towards the castle he turned and headed towards the stables where he found Blizzard. If anyone could claim to own this horse it was Myles.
Despite never actually buying the horse Myles owned it. Blizzard had been born a wild horse and upon his capture by the stable hands of Winterfell it was obvious that Blizzard was doomed to be one of those horses that would never be tamed. Until Myles attempted to tame the wild beast and over the course of a long night and a restless day Myles tamed and named the wild white horse, Blizzard, after the fact it was as fast and dangerous as a blizzard in a long winter.
Blizzard was whom Theon mentioned when he spoke of an infernal beast and Myles couldn't disagree. Blizzard was hell on four legs. Myles shared Blizzard's love of apples and that was how Myles was able to tame the once and still rather wild horse.
After promising to give him an apple after the beheading Myles quickly saddled up Blizzard and proceeded to join the other sworn swords attending the beheading. As Myles waited he thought about the beheading and the man Lord Stark would soon kill for abandoning his post in the Night's Watch. Although most people would wonder what prompted this man to abandon his post Myles did not. All Myles could think about were the reasons why he had never joined the Night's Watch.
Although Myles knew he would be accepted among the brothers of the Night's Watch he also knew that not even the Night's Watch would ignore the fact he was the bastard son of the last dragon. No matter where he went he would always be known as the bastard son of Rhaegar Targaryen. Myles had once considered fleeing Westeros for the Free Cities where he could become another face in the crowd but Westeros was his home and leaving would make it appear as if he was attempting to reconnect with his remaining family when in truth he wanted nothing to do with aunt and uncle.
Myles watched as the man who had deserted the Night's Watch was brought forward to the beheading stone. Theon held the Valyrian great-sword Ice which would be the weapon Lord Stark would weld to dislodge this man's head from his shoulders. Myles remembered carrying that sword, multiple times, even to beheadings.
"White walkers," the deserter mumbled. "White walkers, I saw them," he continued as he was marched forward.
Myles sighed. Myles did not believe in white walkers and the tales of the things that lied beyond the wall likes giants and grumbkins and although Myles did not believe in these creatures from Old Nan's tales he believed in dragons because he had seen evidence that they once existed. He had seen the skulls in the throne room when The Mad King, his paternal grandfather, ruled this kingdom.
"I know I broke my oath and I know I'm a deserter. I should have gone back to the Wall and warned them, but I saw what I saw. I saw the white walkers. People need to know," the deserter claimed. "If you can get word to my family tell them I'm no coward. Tell them I'm sorry," he added.
Myles silently watched as Lord Stark accepted the deserter's final words. It was clear that no one witnessing the event believed the deserter's word about white walkers, who would. This man had deserted the Night's Watch and now all he was doing was making up an excuse for his actions but there was no excuse for desertion.
Theon stepped forward with Ice and Myles watched as the great-sword, he admired, was withdrawn by Lord Stark. It was placed into the ground by his feet as the deserter prayed to his gods.
"In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the first of his name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and protector of the realm, I, Eddard of the House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North sentence you to die," Lord Stark said before he lifted Ice high into the air and quickly brought it down beheading the deserter.
Myles stared at the blood as it dripped from the dead man's neck and soaked into the ground. Many claimed that Myles was one of those men that had a certain thirst for blood and battle and Myles would agree with them. He was a man of twenty-three years and he had yet to take a woman into his bed, not even one. Myles honestly only cared about weapons and battle, instead of wine and women like most men his age.
