Hey guys, so I've got a few chapters to write until we reach Essos, and I'm still waiting to receive a character, so I'm moving around a couple of chapters.

Also, I'd love an actual Lord Mormont – the reason why is because the other two Stark bannermen ('Redbeard' Cedric Glover and Ichabod Cerwyn) have some… issues with Markas' leadership. It'd be nice to have a fleshed out character that is of the other mind.

Markas Stark – Hornwood, Hornwood Forest, The North

It was a strange feeling. Watching all those lifeless bodies of boys and men. Two weeks of marching. We had already taken White Harbour from the Manderlys, and now we besieged Hornwood. Two of the Bolton's major houses would not be able to defend the dreadfort. Three days of bloody battles outside the walls before Lord Hornwood had called for an end to the bloodshed. I doubt he would have done so if he hadn't received a raven informing him about my victory at White Harbour and Oldcastle.

Upon taking White Harbour, I had offered peace to Chrys Manderly, allowing him to strike his banners and turn his men toward my cause. Redbeard Cedric had already been sent to besiege Hornwood, as I suspect he would have criticized my choice. Though, my plans had yielded fruit, as Hornwood left his castle to entreat a surrender with me.

Hornwood was led to my tent by an envoy of twenty men. Not enough to fight us all, and certainly not enough to protect him from my armies. However, it could be enough to allow Hornwood to retreat back into his castle if I did not honour the code of conduct. His men were weak – frail. After three days of constant barrages of arrows on their castle walls, I could see their morale had begun to fade. By the time of the battle this morning, my army cut through the Hornwood men with ease as they sullied out of the castle to repel us.

Hornwood had dark straight hair that fell past his shoulders. He was a lean man, in the fifth decade of his life. Clad in an orange surcoat over his chainmail, which adorned his House's sigil of a moose.

"Lord Hornwood." I nodded at him as he was shown into my tent, absent his men.

"Lord Stark." He nodded stiffly, eyes flickering to Redbeard Cedric, who sat with his mighty axe between his legs, wiping down the blade with a bloodied rag. His face was speckled with blood from the battle less than an hour ago, in which he had the led the forces and fought like a demon, breaking off from his men and falling upon Hornwood men like a cursed wave of fury.

"Why do you carry a blade, Jacke?" Redbeard asked him, standing up. "I thought this was a negotiation."

"I am Lord of Hornwood, Redbeard." Hornwood rested a hand on his hilt, "it is my right to carry a blade. Especially when my foes are so equally armed."

Before Redbeard could respond, I held up a hand to silence him, "I understand your caution, My Lord. But there's no need for fear here. No harm will come to you." I raised a hand to gesture to the bowl of bread and salt. Hornwood walked over to it, dipping the bread in salt and taking a bite. Upon doing so, his shoulders eased up and he let out a breath of relief. Redbeard growled to himself and leant back in his chair, though he did not remove his hands from his axe.

"You've come to offer terms of surrender?" Cerwyn asked from the other side of the table.

"Aye," Hornwood nodded, "my men are broken. I cannot hold the castle against your forces much longer. I plead mercy. Spare the lives of my men and my wife, and the castle is yours."

"What's to stop us from taking the castle by force?" Cerwyn asked. "It'll fall in the day if we keep up our assault."

"The Starks have long been honourable. Regardless of the actions of your father, Lord Stark, I choose to believe you could be more like the Starks we served for centuries."

"That didn't stop you from supporting the Boltons after Ben Stark's death." Cerwyn reasoned.

"Too bloody right." Redbeard snarled.

"I am sworn to the Boltons, Lord Stark." Hornwood stated. "Just as Cerwyn and Glover are sworn to you."

"The Boltons were sworn to my family." I retorted. "When they took up arms against us, they broke faith, and you were not beholden to your oath."

"My daughter, Alara, serves at the Dreadfort as a handmaiden of the Lady Theadosia."

"Fucking Thea…" Redbeard shook his head. I felt my throat clench at the very mention of the woman. I'd never seen her in my life, but I'd heard the horrific tales of her exploits. Everyone in the North had: The Bolton she-devil, clad in black and hunting man and animal alike. She feasted on the flesh of her kills, sometimes before slitting their throats. She bathed in blood, and worshipped to Demons and Gods of Death at an altar of bones.

"My Lord Hornwood," I walked around the table, "lay your sword at my feet. Proclaim me the True Warden of the North, and submit your men to my cause. I will give you fair treatment as my prisoner. You will be confined to Hornwood, your family home, under guard of my men. Once the War is won, you will be pardoned, and allowed to keep your lands and titles."

"What are you doing boy?" Redbeard stood up and barked into my ear.

"Mind your place, Redbeard."

"My Lord, I'd advise you seek counsel first…" Cerwyn tried to reason with me.

"My mind is clear, Lord Cerwyn." I turned back to Hornwood. "Do you agree?"

Hornwood drew his sword with his left hand, placing it at my feet and kneeling. "House Hornwood will stand behind House Stark, the true Wardens of the North. My home is yours, my men are yours, my sword is yours, in victory and defeat. From this day to my last day."

"Then rise again." Hornwood rose, and clasped my forearm, a flicker of hope and happiness in his face. I had my reasons for pardoning him, but seeing his face, and knowing that his men would share the same – that was enough of a reason for me. Hornwood was escorted out by Mormont, and upon exiting, Redbeard turned towards me, grabbing the furs of my cloak.

"Are you touched in the head, boy? Pardoning a traitor?"

I grabbed the Redbeard's arm, "Touch me again, and you'll wish you hadn't." I glared into his emerald green eyes, his scarred face and strong jaw. I felt the rage boil inside me, like I hadn't felt since I was a scrapping child. The man was larger than me, older than me, and a far greater fighter. But I was his Lord. I'd ridden into battle, and I was foremost Markas Stark, son of Bennard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.

Redbeard Cedric let out another throaty growl and walked back to his seat, sitting down and clasping his axe so hard his knuckles turned white.

"That was unwise, My Lord." Cerwyn muttered.

"Listen to Ichabod, boy." Redbeard growled once more.

"The Boltons rule in terror." I explained. "That is their power. The reason why Hornwood couldn't turn against them was fear for his daughter. They will follow me because I will be the Lord they want to serve."

"You should've cut off his head and be done with it." Redbeard muttered, drinking his tankard of ale.

"I offered him bread and salt. He was protected by guestright. Maybe honour does not mean as much to you as it does to me, Redbeard." Redbeard Cedric's face grew scarlet as he stood up to face me again, his fist clenching around the hilt of his axe as he grew closer towards me. I gripped the hilt of my own sword as I stepped towards him. "Go on." I nodded. "And I will hang you for an Oathbreaker."

Redbeard scoffed. "Lord of Winterfell." He chuckled as he went to leave the tent. "Fucking Starks…"

I remained tense until he had fully left the tent, turning back to the table and resting my hands upon it. Cerwyn remained sitting at the table, looking at the book beside him. "The Redbeard doesn't appreciate my choices."

"He's not the only one, My Lord." Cerwyn replied, eyes glancing up from his book. I sat down opposite him, pouring myself a tankard of ale.

"Tell me then. What would you have me do?"

"I would have you be smarter than your father." Cerwyn closed his book. "He disregarded advice at every turn, and fathered a bastard with the Bolton girl. He even refused to acknowledge her as the mother, even until his dying day."

"And that's bad?"

"I suppose he so often blushed when talking about the bastard."

"This isn't about my brother, Lord Cerwyn." I shook my head. It seemed all the Northern Lords were unable to talk about my father without mentioning my brother. "Hornwood is a prisoner, and will be pardoned after we execute Alvar and Raff Bolton."

"So you're still of the mind to execute them."

"Don't mistake me, Lord Cerwyn, they are oathbreakers. I intend to hang them as such."

"Steel your resolve, My Lord." Cerwyn leant across the table. "If you continue to show mercy to traitors, you will find yourself with a rapidly diminishing army. Redbeard Cedric is just the loudest voice in a crowd of disgruntled Northerners."

"My Lord Father told me why the Northerners won't follow a Southnor. The cold winds rise and our blood runs hot. It's only when we're fighting an enemy that we stop fighting each other. The Redbeard will do his duty to my family, and once the war is won, he will know who led us to victory." I stood up as Lord Mormont entered the tent once more. "I know my strategy is longer, but it's surer of victory." I turned towards Mormont. "What news?"

"Lord Markas, the Hornwoods have opened the gates and laid down their arms."

I nodded, "I want you to send a raven to all the Bolton bannermen. Flint, Umber, Karstark - I want you to tell them that Lord Hornwood has sworn fealty to House Stark. Tell them that when Winter comes, their blades won't save them, not matter how sharp. Tell them to strike their banners, bend the knee and I will spare them. If they persist on their present course, I will sow the fields with Northern blood."

A fairly snappy chapter, but we've got some of that damn dandy character development of Markas. Seriously, I only just realized how much he's grown since the first chapter he appeared in…

Anyhoo, next up we're at the Dreadfort with the Boltons… I don't think it's going to be that sick and twisted, though you guys loved all that sadistic content, so there will be a few chapters that go dark. Like, darker then you saw in aCoB.

Leave a Review – feel free to send in a character. I'm not accepting anymore Starks, Targaryens or Boltons. Also, tell me which characters you want to see interact. The next chapter is called The Lady of the Dreadfort. Feel free to theorise who or what it will revolve around.

R.