Game of Thrones: A Wolf Comes Home
Chapter 14 of my Game of Thrones story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.
Jon
Jon sat rigidly, still trying to keep himself warm within the cell. It was then he heard the footsteps approaching and he straightened up, tense, waiting to see what was about to happen. Unlike the other times where the people just walked past the cell, these ones stopped. There was a brief pause and then, with a creak of old hinges, the door opened and two men of the Night's Watch stepped in.
"Time for your trial, boy, get moving." One of them said, stepped slightly aside.
Jon tensed but prepared himself. He walked out of the cell, flanked by the two men, who were clearly to guard him. As they walked Jon kept himself straight, focused, forcing himself to remain calm.
'I have to keep my cool, tell them the truth, I know what happened.' He told himself. 'They must know the truth, the dangers, before it's too late. It all depends on the judges; they'll determine my chances.'
He had overheard a few other things since his talk with Sam; the judges had been determined, there were four in total and they had been chosen from senior Night's Watch members. The trial was due to take place outside, so Jon was likely to end up being showcased before the entire Night's Watch. Sure enough, Jon blinked as the light hit his eyes, they exited out into the courtyard and Jon was walked over to where the trial had been set up.
He was led to the area where he was clearly being made to stand for the trial. As he stood he carefully looked around, as he predicted he was now the centre of attention to all those present. He then observed the judges and his tension increased. Immediately two of them he knew would be biased against him; it was Alliser Thorne and Janos Slynt. He couldn't believe it.
'This can't be, how could anyone accept them as judges, they'll twist everything I say out of simple dislike of me.' He lamented; however he then noticed the other two judges. 'There might be a chance; at the very least they're not biased.'
The other two judges turned out to be Bowen Marsh and Donal Noye. Jon did his best to prepare himself; he spotted Sam standing nearby but stayed focused on the judges as Alliser then spoke.
"Right, let's get this over with; I trust you are ready, Snow." He remarked.
Jon nodded slowly then Bowen spoke up. "You are entitled to have a representative, who has heard your side of events, join with you and give their views, do you have anyone who will help you in that regard?"
Jon was about to speak, when suddenly a quiet voice caught their attention.
"I will fulfil that role."
Jon looked around in shock, everyone was shocked, as elderly Maester Aemon stepped forwards, standing next to Jon. There was some whispering but nobody dared refuse.
After recovering from their shock the judges all nodded, although Alliser looked rather put out by this. He hadn't expected this to happen clearly, he knew that Aemon's reputation would probably work in Jon's favour. Still he carried out, consulting the paper in front of him.
"Very well then, the matter is as follows, Jon Snow is accused of being a turncloak and oathbreaker." He paused briefly before continuing. "The charges are, consorting with the enemy, breaking his oath of chastity, murdering a fellow brother of the Night's Watch and conspiring with the Wildlings, resulting in the death of several other brother's, therefore leading to the events that claimed the life of Lord Commander Jeor Mormont."
Jon set his jaw, it was just as Sam said; just about all the Night's Watch's latest misfortunes were being blamed on him. He could see the look on Thorne's face and knew that his own suspicions were correct. Throne didn't truly believe that to be the case, but he was using it as the perfect excuse to get rid of Jon.
"How do you answer these charges Jon Snow?" Alliser remarked, not even bothering to keep the malevolence out of his voice.
Jon replied, his voice firm. "I do not deny, I was with the Wildlings, but I did not, in truth turn my cloak, I acted on orders, orders from the Half-hand himself. He instructed me to pretend to join them and find out what I could of their movements and plans. This I did, if I did not, how else would we have known beforehand about their attack and been able to prevent it?"
The silence that followed was the longest Jon had known.
He could see the anger on Janos Slynt's face and before he know the man spat the words out.
"So, you not only fail to confess, you lie to us." He snarled and shook his head. "If you think you will be deceived…"
Aemon then spoke, silencing Slynt. "Jon's words are true, or have you forgotten that it was he who told us about the Wildling attack."
Bowen Marsh looked uncomfortable as he spoke. "That is true, but, he claims to have been working on orders from the Half-hand, yet there is no means to verify this and he has still broken his oath of chastity."
"I believe Jon." Donal said; glaring at Alliser and Janos. "If he truly was a turncloak, why would he return to warn us, why would he save us?"
Bowen nodded slowly. "That is true."
Alliser however snapped. "Enough, he merely returned so he could play the hero; for all we know he is still plotting to bring us down. He led the Wildlings to the Fist of the First Men after all, therefore he is responsible for the attack there by them, which killed many of the brothers, it also led to the mutiny which killed Commander Mormont."
Jon felt his anger mount, he tried to resist but in the end it came out.
Despite his efforts Jon burst out.
"That is not true, when the Wildlings arrived at the Fist of the First Men, it had already been attacked, the deaths had already occurred!"
"So you say." Janos remarked with a smug grin. "But you have no proof, nobody to say…"
Aemon spoke again. "There are witnesses Janos Slynt, those who were there and survived, they all confirm they were attacked by Wights, not Wildlings."
Janos growled. "Nonsense, such beasts don't exists, what next, White Walkers showed up."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they did, that is where the Wights come from." Aemon remarked.
"We were attacked by Wights here in Castle Black before the Great Ranging." Bowen remarked. "We've seen what the beasts can do."
Janos glowered at this but said nothing else. He began conferring with Thorne and Jon knew they were thinking of something else to focus on blaming her for, yet he could see a pattern beginning to emerge, Throne and Janos were clearly against him, but Donal was clearly on his side. Bowen was an uncertain ally at best, but his respect for Donal meant he would consider Donal's words seriously and therefore would likely support Jon. He just hoped that the truth would come out before it was too late. There was still much that needed to be done, other more important threats to face.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.