Jon knew his luck would not last long. After all, how many ever murder plans Lady Catelyn may have hatched, she never had it in her to put them in to action. She is just too much of a goody two shoes. Cersei Lannister had no such problems.
It is sheer dumb luck and a great deal supernatural, plus a wee bit of blind adoration that has seen Jon living till date. He knew he is living on borrowed time since the moment his butt touched that ugly iron chair and Cersei Lannister glared at him with unmitigated hate.
For all his looking over shoulder, danger came from a most unexpected person. Did you all guess it right? It's bloody Tommen Baratheon, nee Lannister. The boy probably could not hurt a mosquito drinking on him unless by accident.
It's not exactly an accident though. Jofferey threatened Myrcella he will kill the little white fawn. Now, Myrcella may be a right little princess to the last 's', but she has been Jon's protege of late. Missing Arya dearly, Jon encouraged some of Myrcella's non-princess behavior. Namely, he taught her to fight.
Thus, Myrcella is obviously a girl, not very strong but she is pissed as a hell cat. Thus, she jumped on Jofferey and paid him back in blood for all the taunts he inflicted upon her and her little brother. During this time, Tommen ran remarkably fast to Jon, pulled him along to white fawn's pen as fast as he can.
Knowing what happens when Joffrey goes to the queen and how fast she will respond, Jon correctly predicted they must immediately release the fawn in to god's pass. God's pass is nothing but the nine overly grown weirwood trees that turned away black water rush and joined kings landing to the next mesa by land. Yes, it's naught but silt that's accumulated at trees roots, but they are on level with kings landing, what was once naught but roots is now a days a thin piece of muddy land.
Tommen, despite being such a sweet boy during all other times, refused to listen to Jon this time. So, he had to take both Tommen and fawn to the gods pass. He eventually released the fawn in to the pass, and returned to the keep with quite muddy Tommen in tow. As soon as he stepped foot in to Red keep, he is arrested on treason.
He knew the moment he saw the queen in the throne room and a sniffling Jofferey besides her that he is done for. Just as he expected, he is silenced and sentenced to death by the queen. On her own authority off-course. It is then he remembered both King and Hand are out of kingslanding to day.
Jon Arryn is supposed to be returning, but is delayed for unforeseen reasons, which he is absolutely sure queen has a hand in. The king is out on a hunt, he is not to return for three days. Jon said his prayers to the old gods, begging with all of his being for help. For with out external help, there is no way he is going to survive.
Jon was brought to the public scaffold. Even during night, a great crowd is gathered at the site, a lot of them septons. The general populates booed and spat curses at the queen, more screaming for the release of dark wolf. Yes, Jon has acquired that moniker these days.
He helped a great number of small folk and he judged the people who came to him fairly. He knew of the troubles they don't talk about, he knew to ask right questions. Thus, they knew he cared about them and they cared for him in return. Just as much as they liked him, they hated the queen and Lannisters. All of their adoration will not help him now. He watched from the corner of his eyes as the queen nodded at King's justice. Jon hung his head in resignation.
"Stop." a great booming voice rang out in the yard.
Jon did not need to look up to know the king has arrived. He looked at the corner of his eye to the queen. She looked frightened for all of a second before her expression masked in to cool disdain. She is going to try and bluff her way out of it.
"Your grace, This man here committed treason. He must die." she said in her haughty voice. Jon knew even before king opened his mouth she has committed an error there.
"I will be the judge of it, woman." the king snarled at the queen.
Before he could even comprehend it, Jon was being let up from the scaffold and led in to throne room. Robert Baratheon looked ready to kill a bear with bare hands.
"Tell me what happened." the king said curtly.
The queen opened her mouth.
"Silence." the king snarled at her. She shut up quickly, understanding she is not going to avoid backlash for these actions which ever way.
Jon explained what happened. Even as he talked, he could see the king is going to summon his children. Joeffrey spouted his usual lies, about Jon using wicked magic to turn myrcella against him. By the end of his babbling, the king looked ready to bash his head in just for the annoyance. The queen shushed Joeffrey, when it looked like he is going to descend in to stupidity.
Myrcella and Tommen arrived soon enough. They could hear Tommen's cries even before he entered the throne room. Myrcella was only sniffling when she came in. As soon as their eyes landed on Jon, They both cried in surprise, running to Jon as fast as their little legs could carry. Myrcella clung to his waist, while Tommen clung to his leg. The king's eyes softened at the display, while the queen's hardened.
"Myrcella. Tommen. Tell me what happened tonight. You first, Myrcella." the king said looking at his daughter.
Myrcella launched in to an explanation, explaining how Joeffrey bullied her. The prince shouted 'lies' at top of his voice, but froze in fear when his father's furious eyes turned to him. Tommen corroborated her story, including the part where Jon insisted he return to the keep.
"I regret you have to go through such an ordeal, Little Ned. What do you wish to be done about this?" The king asked. Had that not been his last sentence on literally every last judgment for the past year, he might not have said that, all the same, he asked Jon what is to be done.
"Your grace. What happened tonight is not a simple. I must remind you past year, at the request of my cousin, you legitimized me. I am son of warden of North, Ned Stark. The queen undermined king's authority, your authority to judge unfairly and kill son of a lord paramount. Last time a son of winter-fell died unjustly in south, a dynasty fell your grace. The queen has brought about the ire of north on the kingdom. One could say that constitutes more of a treason than simply releasing a pet from a pen in to jungle." Jon finished.
By the time he finished, there's pin drop silence in the throne room. Over the course of the night, almost all the court has woken up and rushed to the throne room. They watched the unfolding drama with avid interest. One could feel the excitement in the air. This is a point where history is being made, almost all of their spidey senses screamed.
"You insolent wretch. How dare you? I will have your head for this." The Lannister queen screamed.
King Robert, for the first time, looked kingly. He looked to be in deep contemplation, as if weighing his options. Jon knew him to be wise and surprisingly balanced in his assessment. For all king's faults, he has impeccable sense of catching the drift of a situation. Finally, it looked like he has made his decision.
"What will you do, Jon Stark?" Robert asked in almost curious voice. Jon knew even before he opened his mouth he has to answer very carefully.
"It is duty of the advisers to advise and servants to serve their masters your grace. Tonight is failure of not one, but many. I ask that all the men who served queen in this endeavor to be relieved of their duty. Should we do this by the book, The queen stands accused of attempting to murder a lord paramount's son, punishment for which is death. How ever, she is your wife your grace, as such, she is to be afforded due respect. I will say replace all her handmaidens with silent sisters. Perhaps some time spent in piety to the seven in maiden vault will remind the queen not to undermine your authority in future?" Jon ended that as a question.
Robert Baratheon's eyes glinted with some thing at that. Look here, a Stark in south, playing the southern game with such finesse, he would bring shame to the all the snakes in the bloody snake pit. Many called Robert Baratheon an oaf and unintelligent, but there's no statement more false. He simply did not care.
He is the perfect mix of ignorance and astute that can keep a kingdom running. What's more, he got a good man to run country in his steed. Even as uncaring as he is, he is neither blind nor dumb to the game. He only intervened enough to keep balance, no more, no less. Even so, he saw that opportunity Jon Stark has placed in his hands at the moment. He gave a way to remove all or most of Lannister influence from the court.
The protests from various men and Cersei's roars of anger are like music in his ears. He ruminated on Jon's words. It might light a fire under Tywin's arse, but it will definitely pull out all of Cersei's claws. After long thought, he knew what he has to do. Need less to say, rest is history.
As such, history said this day is a win for the north. With a single stroke, Jon Stark made Cersei Lannister irrelevant as a queen, removed half the lannister forces from the court, put a suspicion on Little finger and pycelle, former of which was in more of a pickle than the later.
The king, need less to say, took Jon's words exactly. All of queen's handmaiden's are thrown out to be replaced by silent sisters. Jon sneaked in only the ones he is absolutely sure will hate the queen. All the soldiers and knights that are involved in the ordeal are relieved of the duty, many of them squealed that either the king or some one else bribed them.
By extension, half the Lannister men are gone. King slayer, trant and blount accompanied them that day, all of whom are relieved of their duty. Jon was sure Tywin Lannister will never come to his daughter's help in this case. Little finger died so very slowly, coughing up all the secrets and a great deal of gold. Jon made sure of it personally. He never knew he had it in him, but once Baelish is implicated at his hand, fair few maidens visited his chambers to air their grievances against him. Jon could not do nothing after listening to it.
Had Jon not had the help of supernatural, it wouldn't have happened. For some strange reason, every other whisper that's been told to the weirwoods is audible to him in one manner or another. Thus, he knew where to look, he knew what to look for and how to look for it. He never told any one of the ability, though Varys insinuated to his ability to dream or know things quite a number of times.
One way or another, he has achieved a status equal to Jon Arryn and king in the kings landing. These days, he simply has to stand for a servant to stop by and do all his fetching for him and then place the jug in his hands so he can pour wine for the king. The court silenced and watched around him the same way they did for the king or hand. In fact, he is sure if he whistled, half a dozen men will come running to do his bidding. Jon discovered that kind of power is corrupting, so very corrupting. How ever, during all these changes, Jon hasn't forgotten he is living on borrowed time. The day of payment came sooner than he expected. So much sooner than he expected.
Yes, I know a bit lacking in super natural department. You must remember, super natural is coming up in next chapters.