Hey again you guys! Thank you so much for reading the prologue and reviewing it. It will help improve my writing tremendously. I'm gonna take a similar approach in writing to George RR Martin meaning that the chapters will be about certain characters since this world is so massive and they are all separated from each other. I'll also start the story a little before the actual book Game of Thrones starts. I'm doing this because if I'm going to have our favorite wizards go against each other in the war for the iron throne I believe that they need to believe in the cause they are joining and therefore need to interact with the major players before the actual war begins. So that's the plan for now, don't worry we will get to the war soon enough. Anyways, enough of me talking, let's get to the story.
Chapter 1: Erza
Erza felt really cold. Not cold like if she was wrapped up in Gray's ice magic but cold like she was breathing in ice. Not only that, but she had a massive pain in her back. She groaned and her eyes slowly fluttered open. Instead of the wood ceiling of the guild hall there was a grey sky above her. Tiny flakes of snow were lazily drifting down from the grey scene. She caught her breath and shot up from the snowbank she was laying in causing her back to protest. She grunted, rubbed her injury, and carefully took in her surroundings.
She was obviously not anywhere near Magnolia. It was summer there and unless something drastic just happened there wouldn't be snow. Behind her was a massive forest filled with dark trees. An ominous feeling came to her whenever she looked at the woods so she turned and looked in the other direction. In front of her was a huge castle. It had massive stone walls and a great keep situated in the middle of them. Surrounding the castle was a small village full of tiny wooden huts and shops.
Yup, definitely not Magnolia. Where the hell am I?
A scream echoed through the frigid air. Erza ears picked up on it and she immediately charged in the direction the scream came from. Several hundred yards from where she was there was a little girl with black hair and piercing blue eyes. She had tearstained cheeks and looked absolutely terrified. Around her were a pack of wolves. The pack circled her, snarling, and gnashing their teeth waiting for their alpha to move in for the kill.
Not on my watch!
Erza tried to call forth a sword from her requip space. Instead of appearing immediately it took a good thirty seconds before the sword finally materialized. Erza felt exhausted from the strain the requip took. She looked at her sword annoyed but she would deal with that problem later. With a mighty yell she charged at the wolves. The alpha wolf broke from the pack and was about to clamp its jaws onto the little girl when it was slammed into the ground by Erza's fist. The other wolves stopped their advance and took in their new adversary. Erza eyes didn't even blink as she stared down the creatures. The little girl clutched her blue skirt as Erza kept herself between the girl and the wolves. The alpha wolf lunged again only this time met steel instead of a fist. The wolf yelped and hobbled away from the two girls. The other wolves saw this and slowly inched away as well. This was not as easy as they thought it would be.
An arrow whizzed through the air and pierced a wolf in the skull with a resounding thud. The other wolves snarled and looked over to see a group of men riding horses. Two of them were carry large long bows while the other two produced swords from the sheaths at the side of their steeds. The wolves admitted defeat to the girls, tucked their tails, and ran back to the forest. Erza kept herself at the ready. She didn't know who these people were but if they meant this girl harm they wouldn't live to see another day.
The girl released her grip of Erza's skirt and ran up to the lead horseman. The horseman dropped from his horse and enveloped the girl in a hug. The coat he wore was so big that it seemed to swallow the little girl in its embrace. Erza carefully lowered her sword after she saw the bowmen now taking aim at her. The other horseman beside the man who was hugging the girl casually rode up to her.
"Who are you?" the man asked.
Erza took in man. He had black hair like the little girl and blue eyes as well. He wore a black fur coat and had a simple tunic underneath it. His jaw was covered in a well kept beard and his hair was slightly curly.
"My name is Erza, Erza Scarlet." replied Erza.
The man nodded. "Thank you for saving my sister then Lady Erza."
Erza nodded as the other rider came up to her. He looked much older and had bags under his eyes. His hair was a more brownish color but he still bore the blue eyes that the girl had. He had a beard as well and he seemed to be dressed in richer furs than the man before.
"You got between the wolves and my daughter?" asked the man slightly stunned at what he was seeing.
Erza nodded.
"In that outfit?"
Erza looked down and saw that she was just wearing her normal armor, blue skirt, and boots. She didn't see a problem with it.
"Is there a problem with it?" she asked.
"Watch your tongue girl, you're speaking to the Lord of Winterfell." growled a bowman.
"She is fine, there's nothing to worry about." said the lord calmly, "I'm just a little surprised to see a woman in armor wandering around in this frozen area. Although, if you hadn't been here I might be burying my little Arya right now. You have my eternal thanks."
Erza raised a hand. "I was just doing what anyone else would've done…" she widened her eyes a second. Gotta be formal with him after all. "My lord." She bowed.
The older man smiled. "Come, you are more than welcome in the castle tonight for what you did. We will enjoy a feast for your deed and tomorrow we will discuss other things."
Feast! Erza's heart jumped, there better be strawberry cake.
She began to walk beside the horseman. The girl constantly stared back at her then looked forward again like she was afraid to meet her gaze. She looked up at the two horsemen in the lead.
"If I may ask, what are your names?"
The younger horseman was taken aback by the directness of the question while the older horseman just smiled.
"So you are not from around here." he started, "I am Eddard Stark, Lord of the North and Winterfell, this is my first born son Rob." he gestured over to the younger man, "and this little girl riding with me now, is my little Arya."
"A pleasure to meet you all then." Erza replied.
The group soon entered the small village and passed through quickly before entering the massive gates that preceded that castle. Inside of the castle walls Erza saw a bunch of men with swords training and an older man shouting commands at them and attempting to correct any mistakes he saw. A little farther away she saw an interesting little wood that seemed very peaceful. Maybe she'd check that out later. The horsemen dismounted and a herd of servants rushed over and took the horses away followed by a woman in a dress and cloak who rushed up and hugged the little girl tightly. After saying a few words to her the woman looked up at Eddard and Rob then stared at her.
"Who's this Ned."
"This is Lady Erza Scarlet, she rescued our daughter and held off the wolves that surrounded her until we arrived."
The lady seemed impressed by the redhead's actions.
"I presume you want a feast for her then Ned."
The older man nodded his head.
"Well, I'll let the kitchen know, and I'll also have the servants prepare a room for Lady Scarlet as well as some fresh clothes. Now come inside, it's bitter out here."
The group went inside. Erza was instantly whisked away by some servants who led her upstairs to a room. The room was furnished nicely. It had a queen sized bed in the center with lovely wood furnishings along the walls and a blazing fire in the fireplace already. A female servant then entered the room. She was carrying a bundle of clothes for the her. She set them down on the bed and moved up to Erza. Right when she touched the armor, Erza took a step back startling the servant.
"It's all right, I can do this myself. Thank you though." stated Erza.
The servant nodded, bowed, then left the room.
Erza took one look at the dress on the bed and her mind instantly said no. She began to gather her magic and attempted to requip into one of her dresses, after all this was a formal dinner. She tried her requip for a good minute. She could see the magic energy glowing around her but for some reason she was having extreme difficulty accessing her pocket dimension. After another minute she gave up, exhausted from the effort. What is going on with her magic?
Great, gotta wear the ugly clothes!
A few hours later, Erza was escorted down to the dining hall of the castle. There she was given a seat on the high table with Lord Stark's family. Erza's eyes desperately searched for the strawberry cake, but had no luck. Sitting with her at the table was Arya, cleaned up and in a cute green dress, her mother Lady Stark, Lord Stark, her older brother Rob, and three other children who she found out were the other children of the house, Sansa, Bran, and Ricken. The three other children stared wide eyed at the red haired girl who took a seat next to Rob. Every other eye in the room was on her as well.
"Why is everyone staring?" She whispered to Rob, "Is there something on my face?"
Rob snickered a bit, "No, they are just surprised to see that a woman rescued by sister."
"Why are they so surprised by that?"
"It's not often you hear about a woman with a sword and armor holding off wolves and rescuing my sister. They are just curious."
Erza nodded and began to eat. She remembered the elegant way to eat food from a book Levy once gave her and tried her best to imitate that. The others at the table were surprised by how lady like the female warrior was acting. Eventually, Ned Stark broke the awkward silence. He stood and raised his wine glass.
"A toast!" he bellowed with a powerful voice. "To lady Erza Scarlett, who rescued my daughter, Arya, today from a pack of wolves!"
A cheer arose from those in attendance. Except for a young man in the back of the room.
He had black hair but brown eyes instead. He had a short beard that needed to be trimmed slightly and wore simple clothes. He caught Erza's gaze, smiled, raised his glass to her and took a big gulp before exiting the room.
"Who was that?" asked Erza.
"That is my bastard brother, Jon." replied Rob.
"That's not very nice!" growled Erza.
"What?"
"Calling your brother a bastard of course! That's not very nice."
"Well that's what he is, my father had him just after he married my mother."
Erza caught herself. That's what he meant by bastard.
"Believe me," he continued, "I have the utmost respect for Jon. He is my brother and I love him
for it. Regardless of who his mother is."
Erza continued to eat until her plate was clean. Though she was still disappointed by the lack of strawberry cake she did enjoy the pie that was served as dessert. Soon the feast ended and she was guided back to her room by Lord Stark. Outside of the room Eddard stopped and faced her.
"We will discuss some things tomorrow, but until then get some rest, you look very tired."
He left her there in front of the door. Erza opened it, undressed and tried to fit the night clothes over her frame. She then wrapped herself in the sheets and drifted off.
A little bit of a slow chapter I know trust me. But every good story needs some development and introductions. The good stuff will come soon you guys don't worry. I think Erza is a perfect fit in Winterfell. She has a high sense of justice and loyalty. Plus who better for Arya to get her fighting spirit from anyways after being rescued by her. Well, that's chapter one! As always, I hope you enjoyed, rate and review please. And have a nice day!