The Boy in the Broken tower.
Chapter One
"This is a stupid idea." Theon hissed through his teeth as he followed Robb up the stairs, from behind them he could hear Sansa and Arya walking behind them and he could hear Bran babbling in his older sister's hold.
"He's right Robb, we're going to get in trouble!" Sansa shouted as she kept a tight hold on Arya's hand, the girl was trying hard to struggle out of her grip, as well as try to hold her baby brother with just one arm. "If mother and father find out we came up here then we might be sent to bed without dinner, we'll get in a lot of trouble."
If Robb heard either his friend or his sister speaking then he didn't show any sign of showing it, he simply kept climbing the stairs of the broken tower, they we're nearly at the top now and they couldn't stop. He wasn't going to stop until he knew the truth. He wanted to see a ghost.
There were lots of stories about Winterfell being haunted, some said that it was haunted by Bran the Builder himself, who remained to see how his family would continue without him, others said that the castle was haunted by Bran the Burner, unable to move on while he was still unaware of what had happened to his beloved father, others saw flashes of a dark-haired girl with sad grey eyes and wearing a crown of blue winter roses around her hair, most often down in the crypts.
But the most well known ghost, that almost everyone in Winterfell had seen at some point, was the boy in the broken tower, a dark haired pale boy with grey eyes who people would often see in the window, gazing sadly out to all the people below for just a moment before ducking back into the room.
According to one of the stories, he was one of the sons of the lord of Winterfell at the time who had died when the tower was struck by lightening and he had been at the very top of the tower when it had collapsed nearly a century and a half ago but no one had bothered to dig his body out, or at least so the story went.
But Robb didn't believe in ghosts, he had never seen any and he had lived in Winterfell for as long as he could remember, but for some reason father always told them never to enter the broken tower under any circumstances but Robb thought he knew why he always said that and it wasn't to do with any ghost, he just didn't want them going into the tower and disturbing it till it fell.
"Well, you all can go back down if you want but I want to see this ghost." Robb said before he carried on walking up the stairs, as he kept on walking he was fairly sure that he could hear Sansa talking about going back down but not a moment later he heard Arya screaming about how she wanted to see the ghost.
Eventually, Robb could go no further up in the tower as the staircase was blocked with rubble, the only other way he could go was a large door and with a deep breath to gather his courage and remembering what his father once told him about the only time a man could be truly brave was when he was afraid, Robb reached out and curled his fingers around the handle of the door and pulled with all the might his eight year old body could muster.
The door did not even budge. Robb let out a groan of frustration and tried again and again to pull the door open but no matter what he did the door refused to budge.
"There." Theon called from behind him and laughed loudly when he saw the other boy jump, he shook his head when his friend glared at him and glanced at his siblings behind Theon. "The door is locked and we can't go any further up, now can we please go back down because I heard that Gabe was making Venison pie tonight and if you make me lose it I swear to the-
"Father?" A voice called from behind the locked door and RobB and Theon both stared at the door with disbelieving eyes and their mouths hanging open, Arya broke out of her older sister's slackened hold and stumbled over to her eldest brother and wrapped her arms around Robb's leg and peered at the door with wide grey eyes.
From behind them Sansa whimpered and held her baby brother close to her chest with both arms.
"Father?" The voice called again from behind the door and Robb and Theon looked at one another, neither boy having any idea what to do. "Did you lose the key?" The voice asked and from behind the door the group could hear something being dragged against the stone of the floor. Then, a slat at the top of the door slid across and a small pale face filled the gap.
At first the boys grey eyes were confused when he didn't see anything but then he glanced down and his eyes widened when he saw the group of people. "Um...hello."
"Hello!" Arya shouted happily and waved at the boy who laughed and moved his face back from the slat and waved his hand at her before moving to look down at them.
"Who are you? What are you doing in there?" Robb asked as he looked at the boy's dark grey eyes which looked very familiar to him for some reason.
"My name's Jon, I live in here." The boy said as if it wasn't unusual that he lived in a locked room in a collapsing tower, he suddenly gasped and his eyes widened happily. "Are you Robb!?" He shouted.
"Aye, I am. How did you know that?" Robb asked with a raised eyebrow.
"And you must be Arya, and you must be Sansa and that must be Bran." Jon said as he eyes darted from Arya to Sansa to Bran and then finally landed on Theon. "And I suppose that makes you Theon."
"Aye it does, now answer his question. How do you know his name, not to mention all of ours!" Theon shouted, seeming more angry than Robb did about a strange boy locked in a tower knowing all of their names.
"Father told, he told me a lot about all of you, he always talks about you when ever he comes and see me." Jon explained and Robb frowned, it suddenly occurred to him why those grey eyes looked familiar to him.
He saw them all the time when he looked up at his father and looked down at his baby sister. "Who is your father?" Robb asked.
"Lord Eddard Stark." Jon answered with a smile. "Did father say you could finally come and see me, is that why you're here?" He asked hopefully.
"Your not a ghost?" Arya asked with a heavy frown, almost sounding disappointed.
Jon blinked at her for a moment before he laughed. "I don't think I am, someone may have forgotten to tell me."
"You're our brother?" Robb asked, drawing Jon's attention back to him. "What are you doing in there, why does father keep you locked up?"
"I guess I am, aye. And I don't know why our father keeps me in here, he just says that it's safer in here for me then it would be outside." Jon explained with a small roll of his shoulders.
"What do you do in there all day?" Sansa asked as she stepped closer, her curiosity getting the better of her. "And what do you eat?"
"Father brings me meals, he just brought me breakfast before you all came." Jon answered with a smile, happy that his sister had come closer so he could get a better look at her. "And I do lots of stuff, but I mostly read and sew."
"Boys aren't mean to sew!" Theon laughed.
"Why?" Jon asked with a small frown.
"Because...Because there aren't!" Theon shouted.
"But why?" Jon asked.
Theon groaned loudly and Robb laughed at him, he glanced back up at his brother and smiled at him. "What do you read?" He asked.
"Well, at the moment I'm reading this book about Aemon the Dragonknight, oh! Wait here, I can show it to you!" Jon said happily and he leapt off whatever he was standing on and disappeared from view.
"I think we should go now." Theon said as he listen to Jon's running footsteps. "He seems weird."
"Don't be stupid Theon, he isn't dangerous." Robb said smugly as he kept his eyes on the slat, waiting for Jon to come back.
"I think Theon might be right." Sansa admitted as she glanced down at Bran's face before she looked up and looked into her brother's blue eyes which had narrowed in surprised at her. "Father wouldn't have locked him up in there if he wasn't dangerous, there isn't anything dangerous out here in Winterfell. I think we should go."
Robb bit his lip and thought about it for a moment until his attention was drawn back to the door and Jon's face appearing in the slat once again, a grin on his face. "Here's the book! It's called-
"Jon." Robb interrupted him and Jon looked down at him. "We have to go now."
"Oh." Jon said quietly surprise in his eyes along with something else. "Okay, I understand. Goodbye." Jon said before he shut the slat and Robb heard him moving whatever he was standing on back.
"Bye-Bye!" Bran called and then the group began to make their way down the stairs of the tower, Robb glanced back at the locked door and firmly made a decision right there and then.
He was going to find out why his father had locked him in there and then he was going to come back.
End of Chapter One
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