Chapter 8: Lord of Cinder

The ride to King's Landing had not started well, and when the day came around when Will and the Starks, Lannisters and the Baratheons had gone to leave, the news had come from Maester Luwin that he had slipped and lost his grip while climbing the broken tower, and from what else Maester Luwin had said, it sounded like Brandon Stark would never work again. It was a shame, and Will was particularly saddened by this, as he had seen Brandon spar, multiple times since he had first arrived in Westoros, and he had potential, enough potential that Will had thought about asking Lord Stark to make Bran his own personal squire, but those thoughts were torn to pieces when Bran had fell.

Another reason to find Anna, she could fix anything, I know she could, she has done it me enough times…

It was not long until the convoy to King's Landing had started, and the relationship between the King and Lord Stark was not as stable as William had once thought. Lord Stark had brought Will into the discussion of what to do with a girl named Daenerys Targaryen, a girl that seemed too young to even pose a small threat to the Iron Throne and the Baratheon Dynasty.

"I would have to agree with Lord Stark," Will began, "Daenerys Targaryen has done nothing to gain the enmity of the Iron Throne, besides, this Viserys Targaryen you speak of seems to be the root of the problem, if you go after him, the fire is snuffed before it turns into an unstoppable blaze."

Those were his words, and he would firmly stick by them. Will was contemplating how he would explain to Lord Stark about his departure when they finally reached King's Landing as he rode along the Kingsroad upon his horse, which had aptly named 'Cinder' after he realised the dark black courser had distinct orange lines lines wrapped over the horse's jet black skin.

"Will? Will are you alright?"

Will was pulled out of his stupor when he felt a small hand push up against his dirty white tunic. Lady Arya was riding beside him, riding a smaller white mare.

"Yes, Lady Arya, I was just day-dreaming."

"You seem to be day-dreaming a lot then, Will."

She's right, William thought. If Will had any possible time to himself, he spent his time day-dreaming. It wasn't always day-dreaming, most of the time it was him hearing voices inside of his head, the voices of Siegward, Hodrick, or Sirris. Sometimes when he was sleeping, he could see them. It was always Siegward he could see first, the steadfast and joyous onion knight.

Well, how are you gonna miss someone like him? It's not like the onion suit makes him hard to spot…

"I know. I have caught you looking in on me when you think I'm not looking. I'm not stupid, Lady Arya."

"I am not a Lady!"

"Yes, you are. You just don't want to act like one." Will replied with a smirk, watching as Arya's face turned into a frown.

Arya stared at him, and it wasn't a stare filled with anger or sadness, it was of curiosity.

"Uh, your arm is glowing."

What?"

Will rolled up the sleeve on his tunic, and he could see the veins going up from his wrist and to his shoulders were glowing bright orange, and if Arya could see it through the tunic, it meant anybody could. Will quickly checked the other arm, and seeing the exact same thing, he quickly pulled down his sleeves once more, attempting to hide the fire in his veins.

"Castle Darry is ahead!"

When the announcement from one of the Lannister retainers that the hold of House Darry was just ahead, the men from all three houses began to slowly let down their guard, as they were in safe ground. Will stirred his Cinder into a steady gallop, eager to get to the front of the convoy so he could talk to Lord Stark. Stark was riding next to King Robert, so William rode behind him slowly. Lord Stark turned to William before speaking:

"Are you alright, William, you look troubled?" He asked.

"May I have permission to ride ahead and scout the area around Darry? To eliminate any possible threats?"

You are such a bad liar, Will…

"Of course, Ser Will, ride on."

Will gave a loud yell, and Cinder broke into a quick sprint, and Will felt all the better for it. He could feel the cool wind in his hair and against his skin, he could feel the fire in his veins begin to die out as he found a small little patch of land that sat directly next to the Ruby Ford, where Will hopped off his horse, knelt down by the ford and dumped his head into the cool and clean water as it covered his hair and face.

Nice and cool….

William pulled himself out from the water, and he proceeded to push the dangling strains of hair back, watching his droplets of spring water trickled from his hair and onto the tunic he was wearing.

It took a while for William to cool down again. When he was embered back in Lothric, it was bearable to a point. At some points he wished he could just die on purpose so he was back to being a body made of cold ash, but it didn't feel right for Will he willingly let one of the Cathedral Knights slice him in half.

Maybe it was uncomfortable because, oh I don't know, you were fucking cut in half?!

"You are definitely not from where I think you are from, are you?"

Oh, Arya, as much as I like you fro being an insistent little shit, please just leave me for a while, let me regain my strength…

"Where do you think I am from, pray tell?"

"Somewhere where it is considered normal to dunk your head in a river if you're a bit warm."

Haha, very funny…

William looked at Arya, and Arya looked straight back at him with a suspicious stare. Will sighed before patting the ground beside him. "Sit, and I shall tell you whatever you want to know." He stated, so Arya tied her mare to the same tree Will had tied his own horse to.

Arya sat down next to Will, but they sat in silence for a while before Will started speaking.

"Whatever I tell you, I want you to promise me that you will never tell anyone other than your father about what I tell you. Promise me, Arya."

"I promise, I won't tell a soul, I swear it on the old gods and the new." She replied, and she looked at Will, who was just sitting dejected and silent.

"Where are you really from?" Arya asked.

"Astora, but whatever I told Bran or Sansa, about it being a land filled with vineyards and palaces, it was all lies. Astora is nothing but ashes and sand by now. There was an attack there, by an evil, foul and loathsome being that I had been hunting since I had become a Knight. It was called Aldrich, and we called him the Devourer of Gods, a moniker not to be taken lightly."

"He ate… the gods?"

"He ate one that I know of, Gwyndolin. I'm not sure of the others. I met another Knight of Astora, her name was Anri, and she was my closest friend other than my sister… Annalise."

"Anri? She was a lady knight?" Arya had tilted her head, as if she were hearing what Will had said wrong.

"Aye, and a fearsome one at that, and we had saved each other's arses many times. We found Aldrich in the middle of devouring Gwyndolin, and at one point Aldrich knocked me into some black sinking substance. It was the first time since I had become… Me, that I thought I was actually going to die. Anri killed Aldrich, she shoved a torch through his gooey centre and we watched him melt."

Arya was eyeing William once more. "What happened to Anri, if I may ask?"

"That is a tale for another time, Arya. Ask another question."

"Why are you glowing? You weren't glowing in Winterfell."

"Again, Arya, I must stress this to you, do not tell anyone of what we speak of today."

"I promise, Will. I won't tell anyone."

William sighed once more before looking out towards the Ruby Ford once more. It was a beautiful place they had found, the water reflected the bright shine from the sun that was beating down on both Arya and Will.

"Just before I landed here in Westoros, I had fought a being called the Soul of Cinder, the most powerful and dangerous being I had ever encountered. But before that, I was charged with either bringing back five great men, five lords who had the power to save my world, but they had abandoned their duties, and it was up to me to fix it. Yhorm the Giant, Aldrich, The Abysswatchers, Prince Lothric and Lorian. They shirked their duties and I killed them, and I could feel the world turn to the worse for it. Soon enough, I was taken to the Soul of Cinder, and he was an amalgamation of all five Lords put together, and I defeated it. My… sister was with me, and she offered herself to keep the Soul alive, with the cost of giving her life. Before she could, I took her hand and shared the burden, yet as I fought all the beasts and monstrosities throughout Lothric, I could feel myself becomg stronger and more powerful, I was using powers I had never encountered before, killing beasts at keast one hundred times larger and more fiercer than myself."

"As interesting as that is, that doesn't explain why you glow." Arya dead-panned.

"I defeat legendary beasts like Demons and Lords and Fighters, my soul is put together slightly and that is the glow. The glow is me becoming whole again."

William rolled up the sleeves on his tunic before eventually deciding to take the thing off so he could show Arya the extent of what had happened to him. Not just the fire inside him, but what he had gone through.

She was surprisingly mature about it, which was what surprised Will. She watched intently as the glow in Will's veins as the fire lit up and died down over and over again, before looking at the marks, bruises and scars that decorated William's body.

"What was that one for?" Arya pointed to the scar that went all around Will's waist.

"I got cut in half."

"Your lying."

"I'm not. I really did. You think if I was lying I would be telling you that I was lying?"

"No, because you'd be dead."

"Exactly."

The day had continued to go slowly, very slowly. Arya and William continued telling tales of their adventures, most of which were William's when he was still adventuring throughout Lothic, Lordran and Drangleic. They were definitely interesting to say the least.

"I should have asked earlier, but considering my little problems, I never got the chance. I know that you are not like your sister at all, you're both completely different. I am willing to train you in secret, if you would allow me to."

Arya had a look of shock on her face, she was being asked if she wanted to be trained to fight, just like she had always wanted. William placed his hand in his bag and pulled out two blunted short-swords, throwing one at Arya, watching with a smirk as he threw it at her, watching her fail as she tried to catch it.

"We won't train until you learn to catch the sword." William stated.

"But catching a sword doesn't have anything to do with training!"

"True, but it does help you focus. Focus is the most important thing on the battlefield, because you need to learn to block and parry attacks all based on instinct, and these people are going to be trying to kill you. You need to focus on killing them first. So focus on the sword, and catch it."

It took a few more tries before Arya was already starting to catch the sword successfully. By that time it was already in the late afternoon, and some of the Stark guards had found them training by the ford, but had promised Will to keep quiet. Will did eventually see some progress with Arya, and he soon knew that her proficiency was with the short-sword and dagger.

"My princess can drink as much as she wants..." William heard over the clashing of steel, it was a voice he couldn't really forget.

Joffrey…

"I'll have you, little wolf!" Will looked up, finding Sansa with her hand intertwined with Joffrey's. "Ow!" He yelled when he felt Arya slam him with the blunted sword.

"Arya?" Sansa said, looking at Arya suspiciously before Arya turned around.

"What are you doing here? Go away!"

"Your sister, my lady?" Joffrey asked, with Sansa nodding in confirmation."And who are you?"

"A Knight, who are you?" Will asked, he knew perfectly well who he was, he just wanted to get a rise out of the Prince.

"I am your Crown Prince! You shall address me as such!" Joffrey squealed. "Besides, if you are a Knight, let's see if how good you are then, draw your sword."

Joffrey moved to be in front of Sansa, as if he were going to protect her from the man that was supposed to be protecting her. He drew his ornate castle-forged sword and held it in his hand, waiting for Will to draw his own.

"Go on! Draw!" Joffrey yelled.

"You can have the first hit."

Joffrey took this literally, and swung his sword recklessly as if he were trying to cut William down the middle. William could feel the heat in his body begin to light up as Joffrey swung his sword, and it seemed like time had begun to slow to a crawl.

You do this and he will tell someone…

Yeah, but I want to see his face when I break his sword with my hands…

Good point, do it…

As time began to go back to how it normally was, William's hand began to heat up and turn charcoal black, with little veins of bright orange flame floating through the stone flesh. William caught the sword strike, his embered hand holding the cold steel still in the air, and he watched as the enflamed veins begin to travel down the blade of the sword, and Will looked at Joffrey's sword and at the prince himself with a smirk of delight, watching as Joffrey pulled the sword away and tried to swing again, only to receive a swift kick to the knee, flooring him. Will wrenched the sword away from the moaning prince on the ground, heating the blade up to it's melting point before punching the scorching blade, watching as the steel shattered into thousands of pieces.

"You cunt!" Joffrey screamed. "I'll have you and your wolf bitch killed for that."

"Be quiet for once in your life, just for once. You are honestly the most pathetic swordsman I have ever met in years, and that is saying something. I feel sorry for Lady Sansa as she has had to watch her 'noble prince' try and attack her sworn shield. I could have killed you, but I would like to keep my head, so I will be kind and do this to you instead.

SMACK!

William slapped Joffrey hard across the face, and watched as his left cheek went bright red. "I am going to tell Mother!" He screamed before running off to Darry.

"That might be the best thing I will ever see in my life." Arya stated, with a massive grin on her face.

William walked over to Sansa, who had instead of watching her prince try and attack her sworn shield, had turned to look over the beautiful Ruby Ford. William stood by her side, with Arya just slightly behind him, holding onto the two blunted swords.

"My Lady, are you alright?" He asked quietly, as if he were speaking in a whisper.

"I… I do not know what I ever saw in him. I thought he would be gallant and heroic, and instead he is a vile and childish little boy. He tried to kill you, and he may have succeeded, and he may have even killed my sister. I don't know what to do."

"Promise me and your sister that you will tell the truth when the King and Queen ask for it. You saw what happened, and you cannot lie to the King. Do it for me, and if not for me, for your sister and for your family."

Sansa looked as if she were on the verge of tears, she didn't want to betray her prince, but her family would have to come first on that occasion.

"Alright, but we need to tell Father what has happened first. Would it be alright if I stayed with you whilst we are on the road to King's Landing, I don't think Joffrey will welcome my presence anymore."

"You are always welcome to join me, as long as you can ride a horse." William stated, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Of course, I can ride a horse, just not as good as Arya can..."

"So you admit I'm a better rider than you?" Arya asked, a smug grin on her face.

"Fine, yes I admit it."

Arya burst out laughing, and from the Ruby Ford to Darry, it sounded like she wouldn't stop laughing even if she was to go to sleep or even get knocked out.

Gods, what have I done to deserve the fate of having to put up with the two she-wolves?