Skirts billowed in the wind, dark hair flew in the breeze like a banner and Lyanna rode her mare at high speed. Sweat coated the beast's fine hair and her breath came out in puffs. "Just a little longer, girl," Lyanna promised. She patted the warm neck, feeling the muscles tense, and bent to whisper praise to the mare's performance. They were almost there. If only Evenstar could hold the pace the pace longer. "That's it, girl, run. Run."
On any other occasion, exercising her mare thus would have been most pleasant an exercise. Yet current circumstances made it so that Lyanna could not enjoy her ride. Her mind was filled with dread and her heart squeezed in worry. She had to find Ned and warn him.
Quite without meaning to, Lyanna had overheard a discussion between Robert and Richard Lonmouth. They were betting which of them would be the first to unmask the mystery knight, and more important which would hand him over to the King for a reward. Old Aerys had been visibly displeased by the appearance of the knight. According to rumour, he was prepared to part with a nice sum of stags and dragons for the man behind the helmet.
Her brother was sitting under a tree, sans any piece of armour. Lyanna pulled on Evenstar's reins. "Ned!" She jumped down and ran towards him, momentarily forgetting about the weight tied to her back. Her balance was upset enough for her to almost lose her footing. "We have to get rid of everything," she began without waiting for Ned to speak. "Where is the armour?"
Ned unstrapped the shield from her shoulders, a question in his gaze. "I buried it." And he had forgotten the shield by the looks of it. "Is it getting worse?"
Narrowing her eyes in a speaking glare, Lyanna shoved the shield in his arms. "Every little piece must disappear, Ned. The King is determined to unmask you. And if it were only that."
"What has you thus worried?" He touched her shoulder gently. "Did he name anyone? Is there a suspicion?"
"Not yet." But there could be. In anyone made a connection. The King hardly needed proof to satisfy his violent urges. And who would protect them. Certainly not their father and perhaps not even Brandon. The House had to live on. "But there is a bet. Robert could undo us, Ned."
But would he? That was the more appropriate question. "He will not. We could always claim I was elsewhere, if I am asked. But we must be in agreement. And we would need someone trustworthy, someone the King would have no reason to disbelief."
"Someone not long at court." Lyanna nodded her head in understanding. "But how could we convince her to aid us?" The Dornishwoman was a perfect choice.
"I shall take care of that." He turned away and picked the shield up. "We'll mount this on the tree. Are you still a good climber?" Ned asked, a soft chuckle following the question.
"You doubt me?" she answered with a sly smile. Lyanna pulled \the skirt of her kirtle up, revealing her breeches clad legs. She used her sash to hold the skirt up and started climbing. "How high do you want it?"
"Keep climbing," her brother replied. Lyanna balanced herself on a thick branch and made to grab another. "There. That should do," Ned called to her. "Come forward a little."
Lyanna pulled herself nearer as her brother instructed. The limb had not yet grown thin enough to bend with her weight. She exhaled in relief. After all, no one fancied broken limbs, and most of all not Lyanna. How would she ride if her bones were dust and splinters? Looking down, she saw her brother carefully analysing the distance between them. His arm came up in a swinging motion, but the shield did not fly up towards her. Lyanna leaned in, cupping her hands to her mouth. "Throw high!"
"You don't say, sister dearest," Ned answered. He had such moments in which he projected Brandon perfectly. Lyanna could only guess that the trait was quite coming as it seemed to be shared by them all. In fact, she could feel her own reply making its way to her lips.
Instead she released a laugh. "Hurry up," she called down to him. Just then her brother hurled the shield her way.
The round shape flew towards her, spinning as it went. Lyanna thrust forward her arms, her whole body preparing for the impact. Her muscles tensed and her mouth opened slightly in anticipation. Unfortunately, she had miscalculated the speed and weight of the object. The shield slammed into her, knocking her backwards.
"Lyanna!" Her brother's yell sounded in her ears, loud in the quiet evening. The only sound she managed to get past her lips was a pained moan. "Sister?"
Legs locked around the branch tightly, Lyanna held onto her precarious balance. Her arms held the shield over her chest, nails digging into the wood. She managed to rise into a sitting position. Taking a deep breath, she grimaced. "That hurt."
"You should have paid more attention," Ned chided her. The worry in his eyes warmed her to her very soul.
"Ah, never mind that." Tying the shield deftly to the limb she was sitting on, she looked down to her brother once more. "Wouldn't it have been better to burn it?"
"Nay," Ned disagreed. "How are they to remember this defeat if we take away all mementos?"
In that moment, Lyanna realised that the blood of the North beat just as wildly in Ned's veins as it did in hers and Brandon's. "And father says I have the blood of the wolf," she laughed. "All along it should have been you he worried about."
"Just climb down and let us be on our way." He waited for her to climb down, then helped her on the horse. "Did you use a stool to climb when you left?" he asked innocently.
"Oh, do stop, Ned. I'm not that short." She was. But so was he. Lyanna blushed hotly. "I do wish I were taller."
"You and I both," Ned confirmed.
