A song of Death Gods and Direwolves Chapter 10
I do not own A song of Ice and Fire or Bleach
Robb Stark, the King in the North was walking though the dark corridors of Riverrun, his long woolen cloak dragging behind him on the cold stone floor.
He has been crowned king for some months now, yet he was still unused to it, with all the people bowing and addressing him as your grace. In the end, with the North been so…divided from the rest of the seven kingdoms, he supposed there would not have been much of a difference even if all the events from the past year or so had not happened.
Ravens rarely arrived north, and even if they did, they bore news rather than order. Robb's home might be the biggest kingdom, yet it is barren, empty of resources and some would even say people. It is this isolation that had allowed the northerners to retain their ways for thousands of years, to remain hard and unchanging, while the south was never still, constantly into motion. Stannis Baratheon taking on an entirely new religion was a living proof of that.
As he walked, his thoughts went back to the cause for this war.
It all began with his father been taken prisoner and accused of treason by their new king, Joffrey, the first of his name. With his execution and Robb becoming king, the cause changed. It was no longer a simple war to release a single man and clear him from false charges. No. It became a war for the independence of the North. Vengeance came second.
Robb finally came to a set of double doors leading to the great hall of his grandfather's castle.
He entered the room, supposedly to receive a report by him uncle, the acting lord of Riverrun, Edmure Tully. With his Robb's grandfather, Hoster Tully's, death coming ever closer, Catelyn's brother was forced to shoulder more and more responsibility in the recent months.
When the King in the North finally entered the room, he came face to face with most if not all lord from the Riverlands and the north, with his uncle standing in front of them, his chin raised high. The young king removed his cloak, putting it over a chair before coming to stand directly opposite to Edmure.
The Tully lord then proceeded to give a report on some battle about some mill, speaking as if a great battle was fought. No one in the room dared say that it was against Robb's orders. Only his uncle, Brandon Tully seemed to realize the utter idiocy of what his nephew was saying.
"Your bravery would not be forgotten, my lord." Said Robb, leaving a heavy, tense silence hanging in the air.
"If you will, my lords, I would like to have a word with my family." Said the young wolf, ushering the other lords out of the hall.
When the two Tullys and lone Starks were finally alone, Edmure once again began preaching about his victory at the mill.
"What value was the mill?" finally asked Robb, interrupting him.
"The mountains was garrisoned there. We took the fight to him, he could not withstand us." Said the red-headed lord.
"How many men did you lose?"
After a short, tense pause, Edmure replied.
"200 knights…but for every man we lost the Lanni-"
"WE NEED OUR MEN MORE THAN TYWIN NEEDS HIS" shouted out the young wolf, his voice ringing across the hall. Edmure had the descendcy to look ashamed, bowing his head down in defeat.
"I am sorry, I should have known" finally said the red-head, his eyes meeting those of his nephew.
"Lord Stannis was about to fall upon King's Landing, He might have rid us of Joffrey, the queen, and the Imp in one red stroke. Then we might have been able to make a peace. "
"You never told me. "
"I told you to hold Riverrun, What part of that command did you fail to comprehend?"
Edmure once again bowed his head down and even began fidgeting.
"There is…something else…" finally spoke the Blackfish, moving to stand in front of the king in the north from his position in the back of the room, where he has stood silent all this time.
"A lot of the prisoners taken captive spoke of a wedding at Harrenhal."
"No lady would travel there, especialy in times of war. That some Lannister bannermen married a camp follower is none of my interest." Said Robb, dismissing his uncle.
"It is your sister, your grace. They all said Arya Stark."
"What?!"
"They said Tywin forced both her and Lord Ichigo Kurosaki to be married not a day later after discovering her identity. She apperantly posed as a commener girl, a boy at first even, traveling north with a band of night's watch recruits." Robb had to smile at that. Somehow, that sounded just like Arya.
"She then became Tywin's cupbearer and was there when he held all his warcouncils. Those are the rumours, atleast."
Cold fury was rolling around in Robb's soul, while the young king tried to push it down, to remain calm and rational.
"What do we know of this Lord Kurosaki. I only remember Maester Luwin mentioning some new lord in the Westerlands, but that's about it." He finally said, trying make sense of the situation.
"Not much. He never leaves his home, Castamere, and under his ruling, it has become a town, which while small, is extremely clean and ordered. Those that have met him, including the prisoners, say he never smiles and is constantly scowling."
'Just like Tywin…' though Robb, trying as best as he can to comprehend what kind of person this Lord Kurosaki is.
"What else?" asked the wolf king
"Just his house sigil, a white skull-like mask on a field of black with two white stripes behind and the fact that for some reason he tried to raise women to be equal to men. Again, those prisoners say that roughly a fifth of his army is female…and that they are actually quite good." Robb tried to tell himself that this man will not harm his baby sister, given what he just heard, but in the end, Ichigo Kurosaki is still a Lannister loyalist.
The young wolf slowly fell back into a chair, sighing heavily as he did so. He did not know what to think. All this time, the Lannisters have been pretending to have both his sisters, while in truth they only had Sansa. If only he had known that… his situation might have been quite different. Instead, he was in a stalemate with the old lion, as they called him, and with the Karstarks getting restless by the second, someone was bound to do something stupid soon. What his uncle, Edmure, did is a proof of that. He could not deny that the victory was a splendid one, but in the long run, it worked against Stark interests, although it certainly was not in Lannister favor, that much was for sure.
And to top it all that, he now had to deal with some unknown lord been married to him little sister… he had to eventually tell his mother and he was not looking forward to that.
Margery Tyrell was eying the timid girl next to her. Well, her appearance and behavior seemed timid, yet her eyes like an endless pool of emotions.
The two girls have been walking through the gardens for some time, talking about different things. At one point, the conversation drifted towards Margery's brother, Loras Tyrell, which of course drifted towards the former Hand's tournament which eventually led to Sansa's father. It was almost painful to watch how the girl tried deluding herself that her father was a traitor, as well as her brother, while her blue eyes were on the brink of tears.
They eventualy came across Olenna Tyrell, Margery's grandmother, surrounded by the other reach ladies, doing their needlework.
"Ah, lady Sansa! Off you go, run along." the old lady turned to the other younger girls, ushering them away.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Olenna."
"Sansa here has only met Loras so far, grandmother."
"Loras is young and very good at knocking men off horses with a stick. That does not make him wise. As for your fathead father..."
"Grandmother! What will Sansa think of us?"
"She might think we have some wits about us, one of us at any rate." the old lady trailed off.
"But I did not send Margery to bring you here for that. I want to know the truth about this royal boy, this Joffrey." said Olenna, her voice turning serious.
Sansa began fidgeting in her seat, her eyes constantly darting left and right, trying to come up with a lie that will not sound too obvious.
"I want the truth, girl."
"Look at her, grandmother. She is shaking." said Margery, sadness and pity obvious in her voice.
"No harm will come to you, girl. I promise you." pressed the queen of thorns.
Sansa still looked uncertain, her eyes going shifting from Margery to Olenna, before looking down and whispering.
"He is a monster..."
"Oh, that's unfortunate." was all the old lady said before returning to her previous happier mood.
"Now, Loras kept on complaining that your brother-in-law kept on bossing him around. And your sister. Oh, I saw her on our way here, riding next to the men, a spear in hand, head raised high. Do you mind telling me more about them?" asked Olenna, her eyes twinkling while looking at the young red-head across from her.
Sansa visibly brigtened at the change of subject, looking back up.
"Lord Kurosaki is most kind and caring, despite his scary appearance."
"Oh, yes. Tall, clad in black, never smiling. Hmm, one can see why he would be considered scary. That's what the rumors say, anyway... Does he really have long red hair?" asked the old lady, leaning forwards with a smile on her face, looking like on of those gossiping young ladies instead of the queen of thorns.
"Orange, actually, and yes, it is nearly as long as mine!" Sansa smiled, forgetting just what they have been discussing not a minute ago.
"And your sister. She did not seem to be your average lady." asked Margery, a smile back on her face as well
"Arya has never been a proper lady, we always used to fight. I fear with him as a husband, she might never become a true lady."
"You should be happy for her. Oh, if only I was young again... your sister would be back on the market in no time!" said lady Olenna.
It took Sansa some time to comprehend what she was talking about, but when she did, she blush a deep red as her hair, the colors nearly blending.
Yeah...sorry for the short filler chapter and not updating for so long.
It's just that I am extremely busy right now, constantly going between home and the capitol where I study (around 210 km in one direction). And on top of that, I have four exams next week, with more coming after, and that is not counting the presentation and essays that I have to prepare. Depending on how things play out, I might be busy until the middle of June...so...no promises on the next update.
Story mistake reviews and all the likes are always welcomed.
Thank you for reading.