Hey Readers, here's the fourth installment of my Naruto GOT crossover. Thanks for all the love you have given to this fic. Which is surprisingly huge, by the way. Thanks, to that I have decided to revisit the previous chapters to make it better because I finally managed to get a beta for this story. So, if you see some update in the coming week, it would be because of that not due to a new chapter!
Don't worry there won't be any changes to the plot, so none of you have to read the entire thing again!
I would like to thank CruelRuin for beta reading this story. Thanks to him, you will find that this story is much more polished than other ones. And by the way my previous fic Naruto of the Phenex family has been adopted by SamaelTheDevil so do check it out!
Chapter - 4
Ashara Dayne of Starfall woke up from her slumber yawning adorably and rubbing her eyes with her dainty hands to get rid of her sleep. She felt light as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. These past few months were nothing short of hell for her, she had lost people close to her, one after another. Losing her brother was the last straw, it had broken her in ways she had never quite fathomed. Her kind and knightly brother was killed because of his own honor and for what!? A war which they lost to the Baratheons and Stark?
She cursed the very day Prince Rhaegar crowned Lady Lyanna Stark as the 'Queen of Love and Beauty.' Just a simple act of selfishness on his part had ruined hundreds of thousands of lives. Was her cunt really worth all that!? She gritted her teeth and shook her head, refusing to think more on the subject only to notice a figure snoozing away on a chair, right beside her bed.
Her mind came to an abrupt halt!
A man was in her private chambers… A man who she didn't even know was snoozing away in her chambers like there was nothing wrong about the entire situation. The next thing Ashara knew, she did what any woman in such a predicament would do, and so she screamed with every bit of strength her lungs could muster.
She was sure the entire castle must have heard her or rather they would have if a pair of hands haven't caught hold of her lips turning her screams into muffled yells and moans.
"Shhh… It's me." Veekeris replied in panic with his index finger over his lips.
Ashara gave few more muffled yells in return along with some nasty and choicest Valyrian curses, she had a wild look in her haunting purple eyes. She couldn't believe the fact that she was being shushed like a child. No one shushed her! Certainly not this man! So, in payback she bit the arm which was holding back her speech. She bit it hard with the entire power of her jaw, enough to make any normal man bleed.
It had no effect whatsoever, the man didn't even scream or show any sign of discomfort. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice it, which only managed to irk Ashara more than she already was. She looked like a damn puppy trying to square off against a trained hunting-dog.
The man removed his hood hastily, revealing his chiseled and cut face. Her cheeks tinged pink, taking in all his features, he was so close to her, his breath prickled her skin sending pleasurable sensations all over her being. Her mouth lost her grip on his hand as she gaped at the man.
"I am going to release you now," Veekeris replied, pleadingly, "Please don't scream."
She stared at the blonde man for a minute blushing harder. Looking at him she couldn't help but remember how his muscled arms felt when held her close to his chest protectively and caringly. She was so mesmerized by his actions that she never asked him about his ridiculous ability to walk on water neither how he managed to survive the whole brunt of the fall. For the Seven's sake, they were hundreds of feet high!
Instead all her thoughts were dominated by the man, who jumped right after her, risking his life so that she wouldn't die due to her very own foolishness. The shock and sheer disbelief of the action was something she would never forget in her life.
"What are you doing in my room?" Ashara hissed lacking any heat or bite in her tone, "Don't you know that you aren't supposed to be here?"
"You don't remember?" Veekeris asked, his eyes wide, and his face twisted in genuine befuddlement.
Ashara shook her head in dismay, getting really worried. She didn't remember what happened after she was saved by Veekeris. Did they do it!? She thought in alarm. She was Dornish, but she wasn't the kind of woman who would sleep with a man she had just met. No matter what he had done for her?
Her hands hastily went under the blanket and let out a sigh of relief. She was still wearing her underclothes, which was somewhat weird since she always slept in the nude.
"After the incident…" Veekeris started awkwardly, his fingers twitched, "You went into a state of shock, which is totally normal by the way, considering you just experienced a very close brush with death." he added hastily not willing to offend the woman in front of him, and took a deep breath, "When I finally managed to get you back to your room, you refused to let go of me instead you somehow managed to procure some wine and started to drink heavily. Very heavily." He intoned as he visibly shuddered like he was going through a terrible, terrible nightmare.
Ashara gulped and her face twisted in horror, she wasn't particularly a nice woman when she was drunk, she tended to be much more forward and randy when inebriated. Her family could attest to that. It was one of the reason she never drank wine or alcohol of any sorts in public. She simply didn't trust herself with it.
"What happened?" She choked through her growing terror only to watch the man in front of him blush like a child. Not even daring to meet her eyes. He looked so young she suddenly realized, barely ten and eight name days to her twenty-three. She herself was already considered to be a little bit too old to marry. But that never managed to deter her suitors or her admirers.
"Well—you were a little willful, but somehow I managed to confine you to your room, if only barely." Veekeris said proceeding to glare at her, his face still red in embarrassment, "You threatened to run around naked proclaiming that I violated you, if I didn't bend to your demands."
Ashara did a double-take, her eyes widened as her jaw went slack, "I-I don't believe it." She stammered.
"Well, Believe it!" Veekeris replied with exasperation and dare she say fondness. She didn't know why it made her heart soar so much. It had not even been a whole day since they met but she connected with him in a way she had never done, other than her now mostly departed family.
Circumstances always had a unique way of bringing two people together.
"We should get going, sun's right above us," Veekeris said, "Any longer and people might question our whereabouts."
"It's already noon!" Ashara shrieked, she never slept that long. "Get out—Get out, I need to get ready. I am so late!" She replied in a frenzied tone and started throwing anything she could get her hands on at Veekeris, making him yelp like a chicken and run towards the door in an attempt to distance himself before she threw something sharp and actually managed to hurt him.
"Wait—" Ashara bellowed stopping the blonde man on his tracks, as he looked at her nervously, "We-We need to talk," She muttered lowly, looking down at her feet and holding her blanket close to her chest, "About what happened yesterday, and what you did…" she trailed off demurely.
Veekeris frowned but then hid it with a quick smile, "That will be fine, as long as we do it in private."
Ashara nodded indulgingly, trying to alleviate his unease and apprehension. It was obvious just by the way he was fidgeting and twitching that he believed she would attack him at any moment. What a ridiculous thought!? Looking at him right now, she wondered whether this really was the same person who had jumped after her!? Was this the person who fought a giant like Mountain to save Elia Martell!? For someone who's supposedly so strong, he looked so unsure of himself and so impossibly frail …
It just hardened her resolve to help him even more. Because he was there for her during the darkest part of her life, now it was her turn to be so. She owed him that debt. And while she wasn't a Lannister, she too, repaid her debts.
The halls of the Starfall were tense, despite only being occupied by a few knights and the Martells. The tension in the atmosphere was palpable enough to be cut by a knife. Even Oberyn who was known to be boisterous to the extreme, was donning a deep frown and was constantly massaging his forehead as if it was going through a perpetual headache and spasms of paranoia. He was sweating through his doublet like a wild pig, he wasn't sure whether it was the heat of Dorne or just the stress.
His older sister, Elia Nymeros Martell was sitting right opposite to him in a cushy and padded sofa, wearing only a simple silk gown to hide her modesty while her little daughter was sitting on her lap playing with a small wooden doll and making little cooing noises. Oberyn couldn't help but smile as he watched his little niece play without a single concern. Some wouldn't even wonder that just few days ago this little child went through an ordeal which would scare even an adult for life.
"Sister, I have received some disconcerting news from King's Landing." Oberyn regarded everyone, his fingers twitching on top of his armrest. His discomfort was clear for everyone to see, and he was never really one who had any political acumen to speak off. That was all his older brother. One with the patience and wit to handle the various Lords of Westeros. If only he wasn't crippled by his gout.
Everyone waited with bated breath, none daring to interrupt him, not even his sister. However, Rhaeneys had no such compulsion, she continued to play with her doll and snuggled into her mother arms.
"Robert Baratheon has finally taken the Iron Throne," Oberyn replied with a sigh as he afforded his companions a few minutes for the news to sink in, even after Rhaegar was defeated it was hard to believe that someone other than a Targaryen was going to rule over them after their successful, three-century-long reign. "He will be crowned three months from today."
Immediately the hall was filled with murmurs and curses, Oberyn stared at Elia, hoping to evoke any kind of reaction from her but he was left disappointed, considering she didn't even blink. Instead, she started fussing over her daughter, whose eyes filled with tears the moment every adult in the room started to make noise. Rhaenys started bawling within seconds, her toy discarded as she hid herself into her mother's bosom.
"Silence." Oberyn screamed with every bit of power he commanded as a Lord.
The murmurs and curses stopped immediately. Silence reigned supreme, none want to be on the bad side of Oberyn Martell. He was known to be a very passionate man who made decisions with his heart instead of making it of sound mind. Hence, it wouldn't be a stretch for Oberyn to stab someone with his spear if he was angered.
"I am afraid that the gloomy tides aren't over," Oberyn continued slowly, his hands massaging the bridge of his nose, "The Starks have managed to lift the siege at the Storm's End, they have already sent the Tyrells packing back to their Gardens."
"What else, brother?" Elia finally asked, her face scrunched up in anxiety as she soothingly rubbed her daughter's back. Rhaenys visibly calmed under her mother's ministrations.
"It has been confirmed that Lyanna Stark has been taken in by the Stranger," Oberyn replied impassively, "She no longer lives amongst us."
Elia's face turned dark as her raven black hair shadowed her face. She had never hated a woman as much as Lyanna. Everyone believed, she was taken away by Rhaegar against her will, but she knew the truth. It was clear as day for anyone who saw the way she smiled in blind devotion when she was crowned the 'Queen of Love and Beauty.' Elia was ready to bet her soul that the woman accompanied her idiotic husband with all her free-will and then some. Ruining both her and her daughter's life. She was the reason that the late Aerys Targaryen had imprisoned both her and her daughter to be bartered as nothing more than tools in a war.
"Good riddance." Elia replied viciously, her lips turning into an ugly snarl.
The sheer hate radiating from her made everyone present recoil in surprise. Such spite was unbecoming of her. Even Oberyn's eyes widened in surprise, to see his normally kind older sister speak with such hate and disgust. Though he didn't blame her for the revulsion, Lyanna was the woman who had uprooted her life and had made her own husband insult her in front of thousands of people. It wasn't something one forgets but he couldn't help but think that Lyanna was just as much as a victim in this war as his dear sister.
"Leave us…" Oberyn said as he stared at his sister, who still had the vicious scowl marring her beautiful face. She was still beautiful, even after she had given birth twice with her frail body. His sister was always a weak creature considering she came into this world prematurely. The maesters at the time were sure that she wouldn't live the coming moon, but somehow, his sister survived, in the same way somehow she survived the pillaging of the King's Landing.
Within seconds the hall was vacated by everyone except the Martells and Rhaenys, who still refused to let go of her mother and held her in a tight grip.
"I wanted to talk about the man who accompanied you on your little journey." Oberyn continued cautiously. His sister seemed oddly protective of the man, he didn't want to offend her but somethings needed to be said. No matter what.
"What about him?" Elia asked imperiously, her posture immediately guarded.
"He's dangerous, you need to get away from him. Yesterday it didn't go unnoticed by many that you refused to let the man out of your sight."
"He's not dangerous, and I am not letting him go!" Elia screamed while her daughter whimpered at her mother's sudden outburst.
"Elia, please see reason," Oberyn pleaded, "The man killed close to two dozen heavily armored bandits yesterday. A barbarian like that has no place beside you."
"How dare you!?" Elia breathed, her chest swelled in anger and her eyes grew wild at the insult, "Do you know how much he has done for me in the last few days. Do you!?"
"Back when you all were fighting a war; I was trapped inside a hellhole. I had no one and no family. My life was colder than the deserts of Dorne at night… During the siege the Lannisters managed to find me in my chambers. I thought it was all over…" Oberyn's jaw went slack at that, he had believed that she escaped before the dreaded event. His heart broke in two when he saw his sister's devastated face. This was a nightmare…
"I would have been raped and my daughter murdered by those Lannister thugs, if Veekeris hadn't intervened, he fought that monster, The Mountain at the risk of his life and then smuggled us outside of that fallen city just because it was the right thing to do." Elia screamed, as her raven hair tumbled around, "So, he's not a barbarian, and I am certainly not letting him go." She finished as she glared at her brother with as much strength as she could muster before she picked her daughter up and walked away, digging her heels to the ground.
Oberyn could only stare at his sister's retreating back, hoping she would cool her anger soon. His sister like him was quick to anger but her heart was kinder and more forgiving than his ever was. Because after knowing what happened at the King's Landing there was not a way in hell he was going to let any Lannister live. He was going to end that family even if he had to kill every damn one of their children. That, he swore on his life.
Ashara walked with a royal gait, her shoulders straight. Her heels clicked the stone cold floor of the castle as she prowled imperiously in her expensive silk gown. She had just broken her fast and was now more than ready to confront Veekeris as her stomach was full. She hadn't really bothered to eat anything yesterday because… well you didn't need food to commit suicide. So, when she woke up she was famished.
Where the fuck are you!? Ashara screamed in her mind, a scowl on her face. The castle wasn't big enough to get lost in and yet she was finding it difficult to find a single man in the same castle she literally grew up in. It nearly drove her to the end of her wits.
As she paced through the corridors, she finally arrived at the yard and gave a deep, relieved sigh. There he was leaning on to the railing with his hood covering his face ah-gain. What's with him always wearing that damn hood!? Someone ought to tear it off!
She minded her steps, taking one at a time not making a single noise. She was so close now, a mischievous smirk lit her face. Just when she was going to commit her infamous jump scare, "—Lady Ashara, how was your breakfast?"
She yelped and backed away, "How did you know it was me!?"
"I just knew…"
She couldn't help but frown at Veekeris' befuddled expression. She was worried that this would become a habit with the blonde man. Yesterday, she had seen the impossible. A young man jumped after her, he should have been dead for all intents and purposes instead he somehow managed to not only survive the several hundred -foot drop, but also managed to save her life with nary a scratch. She was ready to bet her very soul that he could do even more.
When she was young, her mother would often tell her stories about men and women who could do magic, not the fake stuff done by mimickers but actual magic. Like casting ancient spells, the magic of the warlocks of Qarth, and about the old dragon lords of Valyria who rode on top of their flying steeds. But her mother had never ever described of someone who could walk on water or do the things which Veekeris does.
Veekeris eyes trekked towards the men who were fighting down at the yard with blunt instruments to avoid giving debilitating wounds to each other and he could only think of one thing.
They all are so slow. it was as if mere kids were swinging branches for fun. There was no skill involved. It might as well have be common brawling to his eyes.
"If you so desire we can speak now." Veekeris broached the subject politely, already knowing her reasons to be here. A fighting yard was no place for a lady like her.
"Are you sure?" Ashara asked while fidgeting on her feet, "There are lots of people here, some might here us."
Veekeris shook his head and replied with a knowing smile, "None shall interrupt or peek into our conversation."
"If you say so," Ashara breathed as her purple eyes lit up, "What else can you do other than walking on water and surviving a hundred foot fall?"
Veekeris chuckled for a minute, his voice devoid of any humor, "I don't know," he finally said, "To tell the truth, I didn't even know that I could walk on water or survive a hundred foot fall. All this was as much a surprise for me as it was for you."
Ashara paled, as blood drained from her face, "Y-You mean, you didn't even know you could do all that?" She stuttered, which quickly turned into an angry scowl, "Then why in hell would you do something like that!? Jumping after me! Saving me! Are you insane!? You could have died…" she trailed off looking down at her feet. She had believed that he has only lost his memories and not his skills. Apparently that wasn't the damn case.
"I wasn't thinking, Lady Ashara," Veekeris snapped gritting his teeth, immediately stopping the dornish beauty in her tracks, "When I saw you falling down to your death…. My body, it just moved on its own. It's hard to explain…" He breathed, "I knew you were in an unimaginable amount of pain the instant I saw you welcoming us to your halls, with that dead smile of yours…. I thought your problems were your own. That I had no business interfering in them, but I simply couldn't ignore it." Veekeris looked away from her as his face gained a rather determined, steely quality.
She stared back at Veekeris for a moment before her pale cheeks heated up in an atomic blush, her entire being felt warmer than ever. She knew that Veekeris didn't mean what he said in any sort of romantic or in an intimate way but somehow that just made even more blood rush to her cheeks. Such genuine kindness was new to her. Ashara was sure that she looked like a tomato right now. She was now more pleased than ever that Veekeris was staring into the yard where men fought instead of looking at her.
"S-So is there something else you can do?" Ashara asked again, but not really caring anymore. She was simply too flustered to think clearly.
"I am good at fighting." He replied as if that single statement conveyed everything about him.
"That's not what I was asking," Ashara pouted, a little miffed, "I am talking about the magical stuff you can do."
"I am really good at fighting."
"I already knew that!" Ashara exclaimed, pulling her hairs out, "People were talking all about it yesterday. Some said that you beat about a dozen bandits single handedly. While, that's impressive but my brother if he was alive, could have easily done the same."
"He might have," Veekeris replied, "But not like me."
Ashara frowned at the surety and confidence in the statement, not many people claimed to be better than the 'Star of the Morning' when it came to being a knight or learning the arts of sword dancing. Her brother was one of the best in the history of Westeros, and for the man in front of her to claim Arthur's better… Let's just say she didn't like it. Not one bit!
"Look at those two knights fighting there," Veekeris replied pointing towards the yard, "I know that the one in the right is not able to put weight on his left leg because of an injury he had few years back while the one in the left is using only his left arm to swing a sword because his right was chaffed while riding a horse. I also know that guy in the left is going to win despite his disadvantage because his movements are far more fluid and has way more experience in his craft."
"That doesn't mean—"
"Right, left, duck, again to the left, double handed movement, a lock, and then finally disarming the target."
Ashara gaped as the men in front of him did the exact same thing as Veekeris told. She watched as the man disarmed his opponent before he placed the edge of his sword on the other man's neck in a clear sign to surrender. It was like he was a seer, able to tell the future in not but a glance.
"All right, that's impressive." She admitted with a gulp.
"I wish that was the end of it," Veekeris replied, as his fingers dug into the railing making it screech to her amazement, "I know at present how many people are there in the entire castle, I know how many of them are fighters, squires, cooks and caretakers! I know everything! And I even know that I can kill every last one of them in under two minutes without any difficulty on my part." He replied with anger and frustration clear on his visage, "Yet, how can I not know my own name."
She would have called his claims preposterous, that is if she just hadn't seen him make scrap out of the metal railing he was leaning on. It had to be seen to believe the strength. How someone who looked so feminine can have such ridiculous power!? She was ready to bet that he didn't even realize what he did in his momentary loss of composure.
"I want to figure my past out but sometimes it scares me what I would find if I go down that road," Ashara didn't know why her heart broke when his face twisted into muted horror, for someone who claimed to be powerful he seemed so frangible, "When you see a person, be it a man or a woman it invokes some feelings in normal people. It might be love, hate impassiveness, adoration, dislike anything! But when I see someone my first thought is which vein I should cut so that their blood doesn't spill on me. Everything else comes later… What kind of a sick monster thinks like that?" Veekeris shivered.
She realized for the first time, how scared and unnerved her savior was. Perhaps even more so than she was during the war. She could see he was shaking, and to think yesterday he presented such a strong front, ordering her to step down from the ledge. His entire future was uncertain and every time he did something unique, it simply raised questions for which he had no answers whatsoever. Immediately, she felt sympathy for him. She felt a need to protect him. So, she did the only thing she could do to comfort him, she hugged him, her breasts pressed into his back as she tightened her grip. He stiffened at first, but she didn't let go. Not even if there was a good chance that they would be noticed by someone.
"You are not a monster," Ashara replied sternly, realizing just how wide his shoulders were and just how taller he was to her, easily about a foot of difference, "You are a little different from others but that's all right… Whatever it is we will figure it out together."
"… You would do that for me. Why?" Veekeris asked, surprised. His voice gentle, curious and fearful all at once, "Are you not scared of what I am? What I could do? I could kill you before you could even blink."
Ashara turned the man over, forcing him to look her in the eye as her hand gently caressed his cheek "I don't know much about you, but I know for a fact that I am not scared of you—maybe scared for you—but never of you. A monster would never help Lady Martell and her child when everyone else had abandoned them, a monster would never risk its life so selflessly to save a woman who didn't want to live in this world anymore." She sighed and continued, her eyes shining in determination, "You have your gifts for a reason, and I am ready to bet everything I have that the truth behind it is every bit as beautiful as the person you are now."
Veekeris melted into her hands like butter, feeling a sense of serenity and easiness which had eluded him since the day he had woken up in the back of a ship. Barely believing the explicit trust this woman had shown in him, he murmured, "Thanks… I always wanted to talk about this with someone. I have been trying to keep this all to myself, but with every passing day it keeps getting harder and harder." He said as his own hands started to caress hers, "There's this constant pain in my head, always niggling me in the back. But for the first time, it has calmed down." His face lit up like the sun, a gentle smile stretching ear to ear graced her, "I am glad that I met you."
For the umpteenth time, Ashara blushed crimson. It should be a crime to have such an innocent and charming smile. Looking at him one could never say that this man was a killer, she frowned at the very thought. This man, despite his flaws and his closed-off nature was a man too pure to carry that kind of burden. But then again, that might be the very reason he was bestowed with something that grave.
Her brother was like that too. Taking on burdens too heavy for his shoulders to handle. Always honorable, always knightly. Trying to do the right thing. He was one of a kind, and all it got him was an early trip to the grave.
Graveyards are full of indispensable men. She was immediately reminded of the morbid saying.
Her gaze lingered on Veekeris, taking in his features, his sharp cheek bones, blonde wavy hair, thin wiry build. For a moment, she was painfully reminded of her brother. She realized that as strong as Veekeris was, he was still human, certainly he bled like one, and he could die, just like her brother. And it also didn't help that man was painfully naïve and perceptive at the same time. He was an anomaly, and she feared that she would lose him just like Arthur.
Her horror mounted at the very thought, she embraced him in another fierce hug ignoring all of his protest and general awkwardness. Her head buried into his chest. She listened to his rhythmic heartbeat to comfort herself. It's just as warm as yesterday….
If both of them had not lost themselves in the moment, then they would have noticed a raven haired woman with tan skin standing only few yards away, glaring furiously at both of them. Her dainty hands twisted into knuckled fists, as blood rushed her cheeks. She had a look of pure betrayal on her face, as fire danced in her charcoal black eyes.
Elia Martell had caught them.
OOoooh…. a cliffhanger~ Wanted to do that at least once. I won't be taking that long for the next chapter. I will start working on it immediately. And do send me a lot of reviews and thoughts. I would love to hear all of them and needless to say that it would motivate me to release chapters faster.
So read and review!
Crazyrajat is out…..