Stag of the Storm Chapter 2 - The North

Ruadan Baratheon

The North has always been a cold, unforgiving place to those who were not prepared for it. Though he was wrapped up in several layers of clothes and furs, Prince Ruadan still shuddered whenever a gust of piercing wind came along, making him feel like he was wearing barely anything. "This place is so bloody cold" muttered a voice behind the Prince. "On that we can agree Owain, on that we can agree" Ruadan responded to the captain of his guard, Owain Storm.

Ever since he turned 13, he decided he wanted his own company of loyal Baratheon guards, rather than the snobby Lannister guards his mother always sent around with him. He found the Lannister guards had too high an opinion of themselves, always looking down on him, even though he was a Prince, just because he didn't bear the name Lannister. Thus, he created an unquestionable loyal company of 50 guardsmen, whom Ruadan picked himself, and made Owain his captain of the guard. He knew all his men well, and he and his guards had a mutual, ironclad respect for each other.

Owain Storm was 20 years old, and a bastard of House Estermont. He was skilled with a blade, not as good as the likes of Ser Barristan or Ser Jaime, the Kingslayer, but certainly good enough to knock most men into the dirt. The two had met when he visited the seat of House Estermont, Greenstone, shortly before his 13th nameday. There, they had trained, laughed and feasted together, and before the Prince left, he requested to take Owain with him and name him captain of his personal guards. And thus, the two became best frisnds, and have spent many a day training and japing with one another.

Ruadan himself had developed into a very mature young man. He had grown tall and muscular, not to a ridiculous extent, but to an extent that made it clear he was very strong, more so than most his age. He had waist length black hair, that was straight, and often swayed in the Northern winds behind him, and his blue eyes looked like sapphires to his siblings emeralds. Ruadan had learnt from an early age that he must always be unpredictable, and thus no-one really knew what to expect from him in a fight.

Tyrion Lannister was by far his favourite of his relatives on his mother's side, and his favourite relative of all bar his younger siblings. He has taught Ruadan about the Game of Thrones, and thanks to spending time with Tyrion's father, Lord Tywin's tutoring, in addition to his natural perception, had made Ruadan's mind keen, and he was able to distinguish truth from lie with little difficulty most of the time, and always tried to remain one step ahead of political rivals. Ruadan had thus come to appreciate the power of knowledge as well as physical strength and skill.

Of his siblings, Ruadan's relationship with Joffrey was terrible. They had got along well when they were younger, but after Joffrey began to turn cruel, and began tormenting their younger sister Myrcella, and baby brother, Tommen, the dislike between the two of them began to grow. As Ruadan got more of his father's approval, in addition to their grandfather Tywin, Joffrey became bitter and resentful of his younger brother, and began targeting Tommen and Myrcella more, gutting Myrcella's pregnant cat and presenting it's unborn kittens to their father. Naturally, Robert had been disgusted, but Ruadan was livid, and, consumed by the legendary Baratheon rage, confronted his brother. It started with raised voices, but ultimately, they ended up wrestling on the floor, till their Uncle Jaime came and split them up, Joffrey being covered in bruises by the end of it. After that, the hate between them only grew.

Ruadan loved his younger siblings dearly, and wouldn't allow anyone to hurt them, and would hunt down and punish those who did. The younger children returned the affection tenfold, caring for Ruadan deeply, and they loved spending time with him, with him reading them stories, teaching Tommen basic swordplay, and listening to Myrcella singing, and watching her dance. He also cared greatly for his cousin, Shireen, whom, mistreated by her own mother, had come to be very close to Ruadan, who wasn't the least bit put-off by the greyscale that affected her, even going so far as to find and pay doctors who could treat and remove the greyscale. It was now reduced to a near invisible patch behind her ear. The two would often read and play together during his two years fostering on Dragonstone, and had as good a bond as Ruadan had with his younger brother and sister. He even went as far as to forbid Selyse from locking her daughter up. An unusual royal command, but one that was obeyed nonetheless.

Ruadan had complicated relationships with his parents. His father was proud of him, and spent more time with him than his other children, but was still most of the time drunk senseless or fucking whores. His mother was an enigma to him. Sometimes, warm, loving and the most caring mother in the world, other times, cold, harsh and downright cruel. He knew deep down his mother loved him, but her smothering Joffrey with affection and refusing to believe her golden lion could do any wrong really irked Ruadan. However, she would often call him her 'little stag', and they had a decent relationship at least. Finally, there were his Baratheon uncles, Stannis and Renly. He had a large amount of respect for Stannis, and was annoyed at his father's slights towards the man. He admired Stannis' upholding of honour and duty, and was all in all, his second favourite uncle after Tyrion. On the other hand, his relationship with Renly was amiable at best. He found his uncle silly, but all the while was wary of Renly's ambition.

"What do you think of Lord Stark then Ruadan" Owain asked, breaking the Prince out of his thoughts of his family. "He is a good man, and honourable man, but for all that, I doubt he'll do all too well in the capital. No doubt he'll hate it." Ruadan stated. "I have a bad feeling about how all this will end".

They were currently travelling to Winterfell to name Eddard Stark as Hand of the King, at his father's insistence, following the death of Jon Arryn. Ruadan found Jon's death suspicious, as not only had he been perfectly healthy the day before his death, but his wife and son had mysteriously fled the capital very soon afterwards. Ruadan was saddened by Jon's death, as he had been a grandfather figure to him, and had gifted Ruadan his large, black hound (think large Rottwieler/Collie cross) which he named Fenrir, and the two had become inseperable, much to the dismay of Cersei, who was wary of the animal, who seemed to share his master's feelings and emotions, growling when Ruadan was angry or annoyed, and whining when he was upset or worried.

"I heard the King plans to marry Joffrey of to Lady Sansa, what do you think of that Ru" Owain asked, calling Ruadan by his nickname that only those he knew well called him. "Not good. Joffrey is a total sadist, and from what I've seen of Sansa when I visited Winterfell, her head is as empty as a flowerpot. All she thinks of is valiant knights who all believe in chivalry, and will no doubt dream of giving birth to little princes and princess to her 'beloved' Joffrey". Ruadan replied, rolling his eyes at the thought. After that, Ruadan and Owain, as well as some of the guards, got into a vigorous debate about various topics, including about women, politics, travelling the continent, and places they had visited.

Ruadan's conversation with Owain and the guards was interrupted by his father shouting. "WHERE IS MY SON! RUADAN. GET YOUR BACKSIDE UP HERE NOW!" Sighing heavily, Ruadan rode up to meet with his father, his sword clattering at his side as he rode on his horse, Shadow, a gift on his 11th nameday from his Uncle Stannis, up the convoy. "You called, father?" he asked as he approached. "Aye. Well, there it is my son, Winterfell. We'd have made it a damn sight sooner if it wasn't for that shitty carriage" he said, turning his gaze away from the amazing castle of Winterfell to glare at the Royal Wheelhouse.

"Get your damn brother out of that blasted carriage." his fater ordered "He's the Crown Prince and it's about time he acted like it, you will ride in to Winterfell together."

As expected, Joffrey frowned at being out in the cold, rather than hiding behind the warmth of his mother's skirts and also moaning about the fact that his brother would ride alongside him into Winterfell, believing Ruadan not worthy of such an honour, causing Ruadan's eye to twitch at the insult. However, his father told him that it was not up for debate. Joffrey simply began sulking as normal and got into position to enter Winterfell, and finally, they steadily began their final approach to Winterfell, to meet Eddard 'Ned' Stark, and his family.

Right, I have rewritten this chapter to have more dialogue and less monologue, and leave Ruadan open to future character development. While he has been taught about the game of thrones, he has no experience in playing it, and knowing and doing, as we all know are two different things. I've also removed the paragraph about weaknesses, and decided to show what knowledge he does and doesn't possess as the story goes on. I left the parts about family relationships there, as I wanted to give readers a general idea of how he feels about his family. We shall see how he develops as the story goes on, but this chapter, as I said, is mainly to show Ruadan's family relationships, and the friendship between Ruadan and his guards, such as Owain. Also, as much as I don't like it, updates won't be as frequent as I'd like, as I have university to attend, and a server to manage, but I will update as often as I can.