THE INN AT THE CROSSROADS

Summary: Not ten leagues from Harrenhal, the dragon prince carries the wolf maiden off at swordspoint.

As cold winds hammered King's Landing, Aerys II Targaryen turned to his pyromancers, charging them to drive the winter off with their magics. Enormous green fires burned along the walls of the Red Keep for a moon's turn. But the dragon prince was not in the city to observe them, nor could he be found in Dragonstone with Elia of Dorne and their young son, Aegon. With the coming of the new year, Rhaegar Targaryen had taken to the road with half a dozen of his closest friends and confidants – Ser Arthur Dayne, Ser Oswell Whent, Ser Richard Lonmouth, Ser Myles Mooton, Lord Jon Connington and Prince Lewyn Martell –, on a journey that would ultimately lead him back to the Riverlands.

Not ten leagues from Harrenhal, Lyanna Stark of Winterfell arrived at the inn at the crossroads, alongside her handmaiden and twenty guardsmen, coming west down from the Vale of Arryn, to meet with Lord Rickard Stark and Brandon Stark, whom were travelling south down the Kingsroad. Father, children, knights, lords and guardsmen would ride to Riverrun together afterwards, for the wedding of the heir to Winterfell to Lord Hoster Tully's eldest daughter.

Crossroads inn was located north of the Trident, in the lands belonging to House Darry, and sited at the intersection of the Kingsroad, north it would reach Winterfell, and south it goes to King's Landing; west to Riverrun and east into the mountains of the Vale. The Inn was surrounded by a low wall of broken white stones, and was three stories tall with turrets and chimneys made of white stone: and while its south wing was built upon pilings that rise over a bed of weed, there was a stable with a thatch roof and a bell tower on its north side.

"Seven blessings to you!" A fat woman chewing sourleaf came to the wolf maiden and her guardsmen. The most notorious feature of the woman was her sourleaf-stained dark blood-red teeth and mouth: "I'm Masha Heddle, the innkeeper." And then she noticed the sigil on the guardsmen's armor: "You've brought the snow with you up from North, M'lady Stark!"

Lyanna didn't travel from Winterfell, but decided to remain silent about it and just smiled, while Masha said: "Bloody freezing out there! I pray to the Seven for a short winter, it's bad for the business. We thought it was over and now it's snowing! Only you Northerners wish to travel in this cold. Three moons ago, I was short on rooms because of the tourney at Harrenhal but now… Lord Brandon Stark is to wed Riverrun's daughter, heh? I remember her… She used to stay here with her father, Lord Hoster Tully. She adored my honeycakes, that one."

"We'll be needing rooms for me and my guardsmen, and our horses want stabling." Lyanna said: "Can you supply us with food? We will have whatever you're serving to your other guests. Double portions to my guardsmen, we've had a long hard ride."

"You'll have a proper room for you and your handmaiden, M'lady Stark. Your guardsmen, however, will have to sleep at the top of the stair, under the bell tower. They will leave their boots down here, I won't have tracking mud up my stairs! And those who come late to meals don't eat." Masha said while chewing her sourleaf: "I'm serving rabbit stew and kidney pie. Will you be drinking ale?"

"Aye, it will do nicely." Lyanna said.

The wolf maiden and her guardsmen went on to the common room, a long and drafty space, with a row of huge wooden kegs at one end and a fireplace at the other. They sat by the fire, while a servant boy brought them the stew and Masha, the ale. The benches weren't crowded: there were townsfolk and farmers, travelers, merchants and knights from House Bracken and House Blackwood. They were drinking and eating while laughing and talking about businesses. A slight and short boy with sharp features and gray-green eyes seated on a bench alongside a man in armor and ring mail who displayed no banner: the boy had been hurt for he had linen around his hand and his arm was stuck to his chest by a piece of cloak.

"I don't like the looks of this." The captain of the Stark guardsmen said to Lyanna: "My Lady shouldn't sleep down here alone while her guardsmen are up the stairs."

"No harm will come to me. My father and his men will be upon us soon." The wolf maiden said: "And my brother as well."

"Two men should remain outside your door at night, my Lady."

"There is no need, captain. Let the guardsmen rest. I'll have Bersa with me."

"Can your handmaiden wield a sword, my Lady?"

"She won't have to." Lyanna said: "Who could possibly want to harm me?"

That night, Bersa was preparing the bath and helped Lyanna out of her shift and into a wooden tub. The wolf maiden felt the water wash away the dirt from the travel and while scrubbing her back, the servant girl said: "At the Eyrie, I've heard the servants saying that your father is already preparing your wedding to Lord Robert Baratheon, M'lady. Lord Robert wants your wedding dress to be made by the seamstresses from Storm's End."

Lyanna imagined she would be cloaked in an embroidered yellow and black cloak with the sigil from House Baratheon. And after the wedding ceremony, she would be known as Lyanna Baratheon. The echo of it didn't sound right.

"Will I live with you in Storm's End, M'lady?"

"I don't know, Bersa…" And the wolf maiden didn't knew for all her future life alongside Robert Baratheon seemed unreal, like it would never occur, although she knew it would for there was no escape from it. She knew they were waiting for her sixteen name-day for the wedding to ensue, and it wasn't far away. After Brandon wed and bed Catelyn Tully, it would be her turn to do so with the young stag lord.

"Probably not, M'lady." Bersa said: "Lord Robert will give you many highborn handmaidens in silk dresses. And you will be presented to court as his lady."

"At court in King's Landing?" Lyanna felt her heart battling within her chest while thinking upon what it would be like when she would see him again… the dragon prince… the man she could never love for fate brought them together at the wrong time. If only she was born earlier she could have been his wife instead of Elia of Dorne. They say it was a thorny business to find a proper bride for the crown prince for House Targaryen was declining, and even Lord Robert's father was sent by the king to Essos to discover a suitable highborn of Valyrian bloodline to wed him, and he died in a shipwreck on his way home after he found none. Lyanna didn't care for being queen or a princess, all she wanted was his love.

Those three moon turns at the Eyrie after the tourney at Harrenhal had been tedious and dreadful for the wolf maiden. Her betrothal didn't approve of her love for horseriding and she never confessed to him her care for swords nor ever displayed herself in her riding gear in front of him. Under the restrain eye of the young stag lord, she had to pretend to be something she never was: a proper lady with proper activities like needle working and dancing and music. And even if she adores music, her talents on the matter are somewhat limited and she couldn't sing to save her life, but still her betrothal would applaud and lie she was very gifted. It was all a farce and the she-wolf wasn't certain how she would survive that way for the rest of her days. The sadness within her felt so heavy she found herself wishing she should die before her wedding. At the Eyrie there was no Godswood for weirwood trees don't grow in stony soil, so she couldn't pray. But the young stag lord assured to her there is a Godswood at Storm's End so maybe the Gods would listen to her prayers then. Lyanna told Ned she would like to meet Robert's bastard daughter but the quiet wolf said it was not a good idea, and her brother wouldn't even tell her the child's name. The wolf maiden only knew her last name was "Stone" for that's the surname for bastards from the Vale of Arryn.

"How would you feel if you were to wed a man who already has a bastard child?" Lyanna asked while the servant girl dried her skin.

"Most men sire bastards, M'lady." Bersa shrugged.

"Do they?" The wolf maiden was mystified for she didn't imagine her brothers nor the dragon prince siring bastards.

"Aye, M'lady." The handmaiden said: "For men have needs."

"What sort of needs?"

"Forgive me, M'lady. I don't know if it's my place to tell. And I don't wish for M'lady to think ill of me."

"You may speak freely with me, Bersa." The she-wolf said while facing the servant girl: "I never got to have a mother to explain these things to me. My mother, Lyarra Stark, died when I was a child."

"Once in a while, men enjoy trusting their swords into women." Bersa said and her face turned red: "I've heard wedded women speaking, M'lady. They said their husbands would weight them down with their fat bellies. Highborn ladies have to endure it for ensuring their House's survival and give their husbands children."

"You make it sound so dreadful!" Lyanna said: "Don't women themselves have needs?"

"Aye, but most highborn women don't speak of it." Bersa said: "Lowborn women are most unlocking about such matters. But most men search other companies in places not suitable for respectable women, M'lady."

"You mean brothels?" the wolf maiden asked and the servant girl observed her with perplexity, and then she added: "I've heard men at Winterfell talking about it… I'm not totally unaware towards the ways of our world."

"Men pay these women for every sort of things, I don't know for what exactly… And these women can become pregnant with her child." Bersa said: "Some highborn lads try to get their way with handmaidens and servants… They can force themselves on them or seduce them with false promises. My mother has always warned me about it and asked me to be careful with myself. That's why I carry hidden a dagger with me."

"You carry a dagger? And you know how to use it?" Lyanna asked with thrill and when the servant girl nodded, she added: "And to think the captain of my guardsmen was worried about us!"

"I hope M'lady isn't troubled with me… I'll throw away the dagger if it pleases you. It was a gift from my father but if it upsets M'lady…"

"No, Bersa!" Lyanna said: "Keep your dagger. I hope I could carry a sword myself but my father doesn't allow it…"

Three days have passed since Lyanna arrived at Crossroads Inn. The wolf maiden would spend the hours waiting for her father or brother's arrival, but she didn't know if they were delayed or she and her party arrived too early. There wasn't much to do around the Inn and her guardsmen advised against horseriding or long walks. Once, while observing the landscape of the Trident, Lyanna stared to the ford near the junction of the Kingsroad and the River road, and felt shivers down her body, and she couldn't explain why that place gave her a sense of doom. Even Masha Heddle chewing sourleaf had become a tedious scene, for the innkeeper seemed to be doing it day and night.

In that third night, Lyanna was lying awake in her bed while the flames crackled on the fireplace. She could listen to the lethargic breath from her handmaiden, and knew she was asleep. The wolf maiden rose silently from the bed and dressed a blue winter velvet gown and putted on her wolf fur grey cloak. She went towards the outside of the Inn and looked around to see if there was no soul to be found. The wolf maiden breathed in the night's cold air and observe the snow falling like it was dancing in the atmosphere. Lyanna allowed herself to marvel before that night's beauty…

Until she heard steps coming and when she look at her left, she saw a hooded figure walking towards her. A sense of dread took control of her body and she reached for the Inn's door to go back inside, but when she was almost within the building, she felt a hand grabbing her arm and while the she-wolf struggled to escape it, a soft voice said: "Come with me, my Lady." And behind the hood the wolf maiden recognized Rhaegar Targaryen.

"My prince!" She couldn't believe her eyes and thought it was all but a dream: "What are you doing here?"

"There is no time to explain, you must come now."

"My father and brother are on their way. My brother will wed Lady Catelyn Tully within a fortnight." Lyanna said: "I can't leave!"

"You must, my Lady." Rhaegar said "You are in grave danger. My father discovered the mystery knight's true identity and sent the gold cloaks to arrest you. He will force you to admit you've plot against him and his pyromancers shall burn you alive. Now, we must go… I'll take you to safety."

"How did he find out it was me? And I've never threaded the king's life for I was only defending Lord Reed's honor!"

"Aye, but my father will never believe that." Rhaegar said: "We'll talk about it later, my Lady, I promise you. But we must leave at once. The gold cloaks will be upon us soon enough."

The dragon prince called for someone and Lyanna saw six knights approaching, riding their horses and their armor shined below the moonlight: she recognized them all from the tourney at Harrenhal. They rode in circles around the wolf maiden and the dragon prince, and with swords in their hands they were searching for any movement in the woods surrounding the Inn.

"We must go, my prince." Ser Arthur Dayne said to Rhaegar Targaryen: "The gold cloaks can arrive at any time. I've scouted them early and they are only hours behind us but they may have fastened their pace."

"Aye." Rhaegar nodded and then turned to the she-wolf: "Come now, my Lady. We are running short of time." The dragon prince climbed to his dark stallion and pulled Lyanna up to sit behind him, and while she intertwined her arms around his waist, he said: "I reckon for your crave for horseriding, but we couldn't carry a spare horse with us. You will have to travel with me, my Lady."

"Shouldn't we be heading north? Where are we going, my prince?" Lyanna asked with her heart echoing in her ears, when she noticed they were riding south down the Kingsroad.

"Summerhall." The dragon prince replied: "The gold cloaks won't be searching for you there."

Hope you've enjoyed it and let me know your opinion! Thank you for reading!