Note:
This is a total screw up on my part, in the last chapter I forgot to write how Sif lost an eye during the battle so just for continuity sake, he was slashed by one of the bandits near his eye...

ON WITH THE STORY...

Chapter 11: The Road to The Capital part 2

Cregan ran through the forest, his footsteps were light as a feather and he was making no sound while speeding through the trees. Sif ran forward to scout up ahead. Cregan left his horse, valuing the better manuverability and silence. As he continued running he saw Sif keeping low so he emediatly ducked out of instinct. He sneaked towads his wolf who was looking at a brown bear. "There shouldn't be any bears this far South" he whispered to himself as he readied his bow and took out two arrows from his quiver. "Alright boy... on my mark" he pulled the string of his bow, readying his two arrows and pinpointing them near his head. "Howl" with that Sif let out a long howl making the bear turn around and Cregan shooting both arrows straight into his eyes, blinding him in the procces. "NOW" Sif charged the bear, aiming straight at his throat. With one bite Sif dropped the bear to the ground and started suffocating him, the bear struggled to get up but with his blindness and the sheer strength of the direwolf it was all in vain. After a few moments of struggling the bear finnaly stopped and with one move Sif broke the bears neck. "Well your jaws seem to be alright, but i'm still worried about that eye" he tapped his wolf on the head making him let go of the bear's neck.

30 minutes later...

Cregan and Sif managed to carry the entire carcass onto the cart that he attached to his horse and they continued to carry it to Lord Darry's keep.

As they were going back Cregan heard the sound of banging sticks. "Hear that Sif?" Cregan looked to his right shoulder where the sounds were coming from with Sif responding in a whimper. He dismounted his horse and tied it up to the nearby tree, "Let's see what it is". The two walked towards the sounds, after a few minutes of walking Sif and Cregan get to a river where Arya, Lyarra and Mycah fighting with sticks like they were swords with Lyarra only sitting at the side and watching. He was looking at them from a distance, as the children continued to play, Sansa and Joffrey found the three before Cregan and Sif could reach them.

"What do we have here" the prince said looking at the kids with Mycah emediatly dropping his stick, "Who are you boy?" he walked towards Mycah with eyes that brought fear into the boy "M- Mycah m-m- my lord". He was shivering from head to toe, his voice stutering and his knees weakening. "I'm not a lord, I'm a prince, and you'd better remember that", Joffrey pulled out his sword and pointed it at him, "What's a peasant doing with nobility". "We were just playing around", Lyarra jumped in as she tried to get Joffrey's attention. "Quiet girl" he screatched like a child out to Lyarra taking her by suprise and forcing her to take a step back. "Now, pick up your sword boy" he pointed toward the stick on the ground, "T- that's a stick your grace", "You want to be a knight some day? Then pick up your sword" the prince placed his sword on Mycah's cheek and slowly started to cut it. "Get off of him!" suddenly the prince was struck in the head by Arya with her stick. "AGH YOU BITCH" the prince once again started screatching but this time flailing his sword at her but Arya easily was dodging Joffrey's mad swings. With every swing Joffrey was screaming out of rage. Even with the swings Arya couldn't watch out for two things at once. While dodging a swing, she tripped on a rock and fell facefirst in the dirt. "I'LL GUT YOU, YOU LITTLE CUNT" Joffrey's face was extremely red, teeming with rage. As he continued screaming he was shoved away by Lyarra wiht Joffrey's face going even more red. "You little-" as he swung his sword Lyarra barely dodged it but the sword still cut her arm resulting in her also falling to the ground. As he was about to swing at her again Arya's wolf Nymeria jumped at him, and started gnawing at his arm. "Nymeria stop!" Arya commanded her wolf and took Joffrey's sword, placing it at his throat. "No, please" Joffrey was sniveling on the ground, clutching his bloodied hand. "Arya..." they all heard a voice making them turn their heads to see Cregan standing with his usual blank face. "That's enough" his voice was deep and commanding, a nice change from Joffrey's childish voice.

As Lyarra was forcing herself not to cry from her wound, Joffrey was continuing to snivel patheticaly. "Come on, let's go" he grabbed both Lyarra's and Arya's hand leading them away as well as telling Sansa, who was still in shock from the entire situation, to go with them. Leaving Joffrey alone and lying on the dirt.

"You could have crushed him" Arya was angry at Cregan for not interfering "And then I would kill the King's son". Cregan gave his sister a glare shutting her down emediatly. Lyarra was refusing to speak, still trying not to burst into tears from the pain. "Lyarra, go see the maester, he'll bandage your wounds", she only nodded and left to see the maester. "What now Cregan?" Sansa asked her brother, still confused at what she saw. "That little shit is probably going to run to his parents and blame it on you Arya", "I want the both of you to tell them what really happened, tell them the story and nothing else".

Cregan was right, only an hour had passed before they were called to the main hall were the king, the queen and a bandaged Joffrey along with most of the Baratheon and Lannister soldiers. The moment Cregan,Sansa,Arya and Lyarra entered the room whispers started to spread through the room and the queen's eyes shot a death stare towards Cregan who was returning the stare with an equal enough glare.

"That's them father, there the ones who attacked me" Joffrey pointed at the four, his voice teeming with rage. "Enough boy" he stopped Joffrey's screaming and turned to Eddard, who was standing next to Cregan. "Ned, Joffrey says that your children attacked him while he and Sansa were walking out in the woods.", "He's lying!" Arya screamed out making everyone jump from suprise, everyone except Cregan who gave her a glare making her shut up. "Your grace, Joffrey was walking with Sansa, but he was the one who attacked them", Cregan's voice was calm, barely above a whisper, as he continued his story he was interupted by the queen "You will adress your prince properly Stark" her voice was spitting venom at Cregan "I'll call him however I fucking want to, I swore no oath to you Lannister". Cregan's response made the queen shut her mouth and Joffrey's rage even larger while Robert smirked, someone who could finnaly shut up Cersei Lannister. "We're clearly not going to get anywhere here" Robert then looked at the girl with a bandaged arm, "Girl, you were there, tell me the truth, what happened?". Lyarra couldn't even look the king in the eye, "Cregan's telling the truth, your grace", "The prince attacked us and we were only defending ourselves". "LYAR!" Joffrey's face went red, his voice breaking and as he took a step forward Lyarra emediatly hid behind Eddard. "THEY ATTACKED ME, JUST LOOK AT WHAT THEY DID TO MY HAND!", "And look what you did to Lyarra's arm" Cregan pointed to the girl's wound. "ENOUGH" Robert roared out making everyone jump, except Cregan again.

He rubbed his hand on his forehead before speaking "What am I to do Ned?", "Your's says this, mine says this". "It's three against one your grace, I think it's clear who's telling the truth" Eddard spoke to his old frined trying to reason with him. "Your children are obviously going to defend themselves and the girl is your ward, of course she is going to side with you Lord Stark" The queen glared daggers at Lyarra who was still hiding behind Eddard. "What about the wolf then?", "That monster maimed our son". Robert sighed and looked to Eddard again "Right, I forgot about the damn wolf". "Have it killed, if we don't who knows if it won't just attack Joffrey again" Cersei ordered the Lannister guardsmen while looking at Nymeria who started to growl at the guardsmen who were walking towards her. "The next one to take a step toward the wolf get's their hands chopped off" Cregan pulled out his longsword and pointed it at the guardsmen resulting in everyone also unsheating their swords. "Lord Cregan, please stand down, you can't take all of us down" Ser Barristan approached him with his sword still in his hand. "You off all people should know how sharp my blade is Ser Barristan" his voice was menacing, he wasn't even budging at the thirty or so guardsmen approaching him.

"THAT'S ENOUGH"

Robert once again roared out, stopping everyone dead in their tracks. "There will be no bloodshed!" he then seated back on his chair and looked at Eddard, "Ned, take care of your children and I will take care of mine", "Aye I will" Eddard then signaled his children to leave the main hall.

As the day passed and night came, Cregan was training with his usual dual-wielding style until he heard footsteps coming towards him. "I see you are preoccupied" the queen was slowly walking towards him until she stopped the moment he looked at her. "What do you want, 'Your Grace' " he said while continuing his training. "I wanted to give you a warning" she started to approach him again.

"I won't forget this Stark..."
"Remember these words... The Lannisters always pay their depts"
"Aye, I will"

Cregan exited his stance and turned towards her

"But remember this Lannister..."
"Today was your first mistake"
"If I see you touch my sisters, I will cut off your hands"
"If I see you speak ill of them, I will cut off your tongue"
"If I see you even look at them wrong, I carve out your eyes"
"My family may not know how to play this game, but I do"
"And I will destroy you"

"Because I do not forget... And I do not forgive"