Queen of The North
Chapter Twenty-One.
Lyanna sipped at a mug of spiced wine and as she placed her glass of wine back down on the table, enjoying the feeling of warmth spreading through her chest. It was a bit early in the day for this, she knew but it had seemed to her like an age since she had last been able to just sit down and relax, she had never doubted that running a castle was hard work but her mother had always made it seem so very easy, it had surprised her just how hard it had been.
Still, it had proven to be useful to her as she was the one that was always speaking to the servants, even before she had taken over her mother's duties she had always spoken to them kindly, had always learned their names. Not because she truly cared for them, she was indifferent to them at best.
But it didn't matter, so long as they thought that she cared about them then that was all that mattered to her. If things did not turn out how she hoped they would then being the Lady of Winterfell in their hearts would be useful in making such a thing a reality, Robb did not know any of them. He knew their names, most of them at any rate, but that was it.
Lyanna knew their names and their lives, even if she often had to force herself to listen through their stories. She knew them and they knew her, they knew Robb as their future lord and their lord's son but they didn't know Robb the man. Lyanna allowed them to get to know her, or at the very least the mask she had formed for herself.
It would serve her well in the days to come, she was certain enough of that. After all, how could the people of Winterfell serve their lord when their beloved lady was left to rot in the shadows, they wouldn't. Father would see that when he returned, Maester Luwin had to be telling him about how well she had been doing in ruling Winterfell, he would have to ensure that it was her who was placed above Robb when it came to the inheritance.
He simply had too. She had worked too hard for anything else.
She sipped at her wine again and finished it off before she stood out of her chair, regardless she couldn't spend the rest of the day in here despite how much she might want to. She turned and strode out of the room, shutting the door behind her as she left.
She had already seen to today's food as well as made sure that stores were adequately filled, she had also started to make sure that there would be enough food being put away for Winter. The old saying went that a long summer meant an even longer Winter and this summer had been long indeed. It had lasted over ten years, if Winter lasted twice as long then that meant it would be a twenty year winter.
She hated to admit it, but the thought of that terrified her. She wasn't sure if they had enough food that they could put away that would be able to last them through a twenty year winter or longer, Northern crops were hardy, they could grow in even the coldest of Winters but while Northmen were hardy as well there was only so much cold and snow they could take before they could no longer work in the fields, before the hunters could no longer bare to go out.
She would have to order that the people work harder, sow as many crops as they could and then harvest just as much as they had sowed, it would be hard work. She had no doubts about that, but it was work hard or it was freeze and starve to death in the cold, dark winter. That wasn't really a choice at all.
Pork and Mutton would need to be salted down, it was hardly the most desirable of food but it would fatten out the stores and mean that wouldn't have to eat grains and carrots and onions and cabbages all through out the winter. Gods, there was so much to consider and to get done.
She loved it. It wasn't what she wanted, it didn't give her the power she craved. The respect and honour that would come with sitting on the chair that every single lord of Winterfell had sat on before her father, and every king of Winter had sat on before the dragons had come and decreed themselves the one true kings.
But now all the dragons were gone, if someone was to decree himself King in the North, or queen, who was going to stop them? Poor fat old Robert who sat on the iron throne? He might even welcome the fight, he could march all the way up the causeway with the Crannogmen shooting poison arrows and bothering the army that would slowly march up until they would finally make it to Moat Cailin.
Where they would find it guarded by five hundred Stark men, no one without dragons had ever been able to breach Moat Cailin when it was manned. They could of course try to go around it but only the Crannogmen knew the safe paths through the swamp. and the swamp was treacherous to those who did not know it.
Her father had taken her to visit Howland Reed once, and they had needed a Crannogman guide to show them to Greywater Watch, she hadn't believed her father when he had told her that the castles of the Crannogmen moved. It sounded silly to her when she was a child, like something that old nan would have told her.
But it did actually move, it had taken them close to a week to find it. Her father always told her that there had been no reason to be afraid but she hadn't been afraid, it had been an adventure. She had been a stupid girl, plenty in the neck was lethal. Flowers that grew as tall as her father and were twice as poisonous as any serpent.
Lizard lions that lay in wait in the mossy greens waters for any fool to come just a little too close and then would surge forward with a speed that it didn't seem a creature like that should possess and snap around their legs with their powerful jaws before they dragged them into the water to devour them whole.
And the ground itself was deadly, at one moment it come seem as solid as the earth and the next it could swallow a man whole. When they had been trying to find Greywater Watch one of the men had wondered off, he needed a piss, the guide had tried to convince him not to go off alone but nothing that anyone could say would dissuade him.
He never came back.
There had not been any screams but the guide had pointed out that he had been wearing heavy clothes with a coat of mail over it, the chances were that the ground had swallowed him before he even had a chance to scream. Her father had thought that she would be upset over someone dying but she hadn't been, all she could remember thinking was that the man must have been stupid to have died like that.
The knights of the south who wore their pretty painted armour, they would sink even faster than the man had done. They would never be able to sneak past Moat Cailin, not without the blessing of Howland Reed and they would never have it. He was sworn to Winterfell. They could hardly do anything about a ruler in the North if they couldn't get in to the north.
The problem was that her father would be very unlikely to ever side against Robert Baratheon, as he was just as unlikely to ever name himself King of the North. It was a shame in her mind, his father was beloved by all the people of the North. If he raised up against the Iron Throne then the North would truly be better of for it, in her view.
Sadly, her father, as much as she loved him, lacked ambition but was full of honour. She never understood why people valued it so highly, even those people who had not a drop of it in them. People said that it was better to die with your honour intact but Lyanna did not see why, you were still dead. Honour did not save you. Honour did not grant you any reward.
King Robert was not an honourable man, he was a drunk and an adulterer and yet he was still the king. He sat the iron throne and was the most powerful man in Westeros. He did not get to claim it because he was honourable, he claimed the throne because he rose up in rebellion.
If Lyanna wanted to be the Lady of Winterfell then she would have to do dishonourable things, it didn't matter about her father's little test or what Maester Luwin told him, not truly. All that would change would be how difficult it would make it for her to claim what was hers by blood right. She was more a Stark than Robb ever was, the idea of her fish brother ruling Winterfell made her ill.
She finally arrived at her destination, the small chamber where her family would often have their breakfasts together. Her father often believed in eating with the men and women of Winterfell and Lyanna did see the wisdom in that, it allowed the low folk to see something of themselves in them.
The small chamber was often only used for their breakfasts and that was it, every other meal was served in the feast hall even on their name days, their father always said that it took a castle to raise a child and thus they had every right to see them grow and to celebrate it as well.
Lyanna had to bite her lip to stop herself from screaming when she saw Robb sitting at the head of the table, their father's place and thus her place. Still, she couldn't let him see how much it irritated her and so she took her place at the other end of the table, placing a smile on her lips when she saw him staring at her.
Theon was sitting at Robb's right, a place of honour and gods that irritated her even more than the fact that Robb was in her place. Well, maybe not quite as much as that did but it still irritated her. Theon was a ward, it was a better word for hostage. His father had risen up in rebellion and their father had to go to battle against his, he could have lost his life. Theon should have been tolerated, never included.
The memories of him attacking her were still fresh in her mind and she was not likely to forget that any moment soon, she was simply wondering how she was going to pay him back for that. A little part of her had hoped that he had forgotten her warning and paid it no mind so she would be able to punish him for that, sadly none of the servents had complained to her yet.
Bran was sitting at Robb's left and it cheered her up to see that he seemed in a brighter mood than he had been over the last few weeks, she knew that it would take a while for Bran to truly be happy again, if he ever truly would but this slight improvement made her happy and it pleased her to see that his plate was already half clean as recently it had been a struggle to get him to take more than a few bites.
Rickon was sitting further down from Bran and was the closest to Lyanna, his plate was completely clean and he seemed to be squirming around. He was young, and wild and wanted to run around she knew but Lyanna had made it clear to her baby brother that until their mother returned she was in charge of him and he had to ask her permission to do anything. It was odd how such a tiny lad could get himself into so much trouble.
How their mother dealt with him day in and day out she wasn't quite sure, she certainly respect her for it. She had been respecting her more and more lately. She was missing her more and more as well, they had their disagreements and she knew that her mother would always support Robb's claim over hers but she was still her mother and she did love her, just as she knew that her mother loved her.
Two servants brought out some platters of food, they were used to her coming late for breakfast now that she had taken over the duties of her mother. She used her fork to collect some bacon and pork sausage, as well as two oatcakes and half a loaf of brown bread that she could use to wipe up some of the grease from the bacon and the sausages.
"You're late for breakfast, you know that yes?" Robb asked in the sternest voice he could manage and Lyanna had to try to stop herself from laughing, not because she had much problem with the idea of laughing at Robb in front of others but her mouth was full of bacon and bread and she didn't fancy chocking on her breakfast.
Once she had chewed enough and swallowed and chased it down with a swig of dark ale to sooth her throat she spoke. "I got up later than usual this morning, I was up late last night taking care of some accounts. You see Robb, that's one of the problems that come with real responsibility. Quite a few long nights with little sleep, when you the real lord of Winterfell you might understand. If you become the lord of Winterfell anyway."
Robb scowled and was about to say something before Bran interrupted him. "I can still go riding today right? You both said that I could and it took Milken and Maester Luwin days and days to make my saddle and I've been looking forward to it all this time and I-"
"Brandon, don't forget to breath. You are going to go riding. But you need to finish breaking your fast first." At her words Bran scooped up his fork and speared the half of the sausage that was left on his plate and plopped it in to his mouth, chewing quickly and swallowing it before he turned his attention to the last rasher of bacon.
Rickon was staring mournfully at his empty plate before he turned to look at Lyanna. "I want to ride too. I want Shaggy to come with us as well. He doesn't like being stuck in the castle, and he doesn't like being in the godswood when I'm not there."
"You're still too young to ride yet Rickon, and you have lessons with Maester Luwin." Lyanna soothed as she rubbed her fingers through his red curls just as she had seen their mother do. "I will tell you what, if when we come back you can count all the way up to ten then I will ask Hullen to teach you how to ride."
"Hullen's gone, he went south with Father. So did his son." Robb pointed out as he finished off his ale. "So, how goes the search for a new Master of Horse. It is your responsibility, isn't it? Hiring new members of the household is your responsibility, isn't it? Maybe if you stopped wishing for something that is never going to be yours and did what you were supposed to then we would have a new one and Rickon could learn to ride."
Lyanna's grip tightened around her fork and her knuckles turned white as she saw Theon grin at Robb's words, she was going to kill him. "It's hard to find someone suitable, we always assumed that after Hullen stopped caring for the horses Harwin would take over for him. I'll find one soon enough, I'll have too as no one else will."
"Don't fight!" Brandon's shout drew both her and Robb's attention on to him, his eyes were wet but no tears fell and he did not seem sad. "You're brother and sister! You're supposed to love one another and Maester Luwin told me about the promise that you made to mother. You swore that you would get along till she came back and she's not back yet so get along and stop fighting!"
Lyanna's eyes widen as she stared at Bran for a few moments before her gaze turned back to Robb to see that he was as shocked as she was. Bran was a sweet lad and when his legs still worked he could outrun anyone one and climb to places that no other man in Winterfell could reach and that could cause their lady mother to have several heart attacks he was never mean spirited or angry. To hear him shout was like hearing one of their direwolves moo at the sun instead of howl at the moon.
After a long gap of silence Robb chuckled and Lyanna couldn't help herself and she let out a giggle before she turned to face Bran. "We aren't going to fight anymore, I promise." Perhaps it should've worried her how easily the lie slipped from her mouth. "You're plate is clean, call Hodor and get down to the stables and we can go for that ride."
Bran beamed at her words and hollered for Hodor, the door swung open and the gentle giant lumbered in with a smile before he came over to Bran's chair and picked him up. Once Hodor had carried Bran out of the room Lyanna took Rickon's hand and began to lead him out of the room.
Rickon began to swing back and forth on her arm. "I miss Mother, and Shaggy. Why can't I have Shaggy with me?" He stared up at her with his blue Tully eyes, it was odd how she could hate such eyes when they belonged to Robb but love them when they belonged to Rickon, Sansa, Bran and her mother.
"I miss Mother too, and I miss having my wolves as well but I explained why we can't have the wolves inside of the castle. They scare the servants and the wolves are smart but they are animals, if they pick up on them being scared then they get very angry and could hurt them." It was worse that all of the wolves, both her pack and the one her father and brothers found were very anxious as of late.
The bones of Lady had been returned to them and somehow the wolves knew about their sister's death and they howled so long and so loud that no one in the castle had been able to sleep, her wolves were not blood related to her brothers and sisters but they were of the same kind thus mourned the loss of one of their own.
It didn't help anything that men and women who inhabited Winterfell were in a tense mood as well, with Lady's bones had come a letter from her father that explained what had happened to the wolf, and an incident between the Starks and the Royal Family.
When she had read about what the prince had done to Arya and Sansa she felt the need to grab her bow and a horse and go and deal with the little prick but she had managed to regain control of herself before she made a mistake. The prince would pay, she would make certain of that but like most things in her life it seemed as though it could only happen at a certain time.
She left Rickon with Maester Luwin and told him that she wanted him to learn how to count higher, at least to twenty. Rickon seemed miserable to see her go but he cheered somewhat when she reminded him of her promise, once Rickon was settled she turned and left the Maester's chambers before making her way to the stables.
By the time she got there she found that Bran had already been saddled and the sight made her smile, atop the horse he seemed normal. Whole. Summer was prowling around the horse's feet and was sniffing it, with a sharp command Bran made get away from the horse before the direwolf caused the beast to panic.
Lyanna came closer to Bran and smiled up at him before she turned her gaze to look at the saddle, it didn't seem to be hurting him or if it did he made no complaints, not that he would complain if the horse threw him off and kicked him in the face. The boy had wanted to go riding since Lord Tyrion had brought his design and an army of wildings wouldn't stop him from going now.
A stable boy had brought her horse to her and helped her to saddle it before she climbed up and turned to look at Bran. "Are you alright? Do you feel comfortable?" She didn't want to change her mind but if it was hurting Bran then she would deal with him hating her.
"I'm fine, Summer's coming with us and Robb's bringing Grey Wind." Bran said with a smile as he looked down at his wolf before he looked back up at Lyanna. "Aren't you going to bring your wolves too?"
"No, I don't want to make Shaggydog jealous after all. Besides, my wolves prefer it in the godswood anyway." That was true enough, while her wolves were each as different to one another as her siblings wolves were to each other, all of them preferred the quiet of the godswood and she would often find them curled around the weirwood and lapping at the black steaming water of the lake.
The sound of the stable boy approaching made her look down and she smiled when she saw that he had brought her bow, she didn't plan on using it but it was better to be safe than sorry and while she didn't plan on using it for defence if they came across some dear then she could use her bow to bring them down and they could use the meat to stock up the larders.
The grind of the portcullis opening drew her attention after she swung her bow against her back and the fore riders ride out of the castle first, followed quickly by Grey Wind and then by Robb and Theon. Summer followed them and Lyanna and Bran followed that wolf with the rear guards following after them.
As they rode through the gates and out into the Winter Town Lyanna couldn't stop herself from smiling, riding had never been a great pleasure of hers. It was just another way that she was not like her aunt, she looked like her everyone said that and she had her name but that was all of it.
Still, while she did not love riding like her father's sister had done she couldn't deny it's pleasures at the moment as she rode, the wind making her hair flow behind her. They rode through the streets of Winter Town and all around them the streets were thronging with life, it wasn't always like this but now that Winter was truly coming more and more people from all corners of the north were coming here.
Suddenly Bran broke from the host and galloped down a side street, Summer running behind him. It was surprising how easily it was for the wolf to keep up with the horse. Robb cursed and gestured for Grey Wind to follow after Summer before Robb galloped after Bran.
Lyanna turned to follow them and behind her she could hear Theon and the guards following after them, ahead of her Bran let out a wallop as his horse picked up speed and galloped towards the wolfswood. Lyanna knew that she should be worried as she saw Bran's horse take him deeper and deeper inside but she found that she wasn't, she hadn't seen Bran this happy in too long a time.
She rode in after Robb and came to a stop next to him. "Where did he go?" She asked Robb as she tried to catch her breath, that was the thing she didn't like about riding. After a long gallop her lungs always felt like they were burning as they tried to get air in.
"I don't know." Robb said as he scanned the tree line to see if he could see any sign of their brother, while his gaze was stony Lyanna could see a hint of worry in his eyes but she knew that while he might be worried it was nothing that could compare to what she was feeling, as her worry was being exacerbated by her fury.
"What do you mean you don't know!? You were right behind him!" She spat as she reached across and grabbed him by his furs, Robb violently shrugged her off and glared at her. Theon came riding up to them and glanced between them.
"Something wrong?" He asked with that insufferable smirk of his that made her want beat him half to death, or send him to meet his god by holding his head under the water.
"Piss off Greyjoy, just go with Robb and try to find Bran. All of you! Find Bran!" She called out and the guards answered her, and both of the direwolves howled. Lyanna galloped in one direction and behind she could hear the horses taking off in different directions behind her. They had to find him.
Soon the woods settled into silence and she tried to listen to any sound that could lead her to Bran, in the distance she could hear the wolves howling and a creek babbling by but that was it. There had to be a way to find him, they could come back with her wolves if Grey Wind and Summer couldn't find them because one of them had to be able to find Bran's scent.
Then she heard a scream, it sounded like a woman and she whipped her head around to face the way it had come from and grasped her horse's reins and with a sharp crack sent her horse galloping in the direction the sound had come from. The horse had to leap over a large stream and the jump nearly unsaddled her but she was able to keep her hold, after a while she made her way to a clearing and what she saw made her horse come to a stop.
There were two bodies on the ground, Grey Wind was ripping into one of their throats and Summer was just finishing chewing one the others intestines, the thick pink worms slipped from the wolf's mouth and his newly red snot pulled back to reveal teeth that were stained red as he saw Bran.
Robb was standing near by with his sword clasped tightly in his hands as he stared down the man who was holding a knife to Bran's throat, Bran's horse was nowhere to be seen and next to the man was a woman with ratty brown hair who was holding a spear in her arms.
Lyanna jumped off of her horse and unslung her bow and notched an arrow, aiming it at the woman with the spear. "Unless you want your friend there to be breathing out of a new hole let the boy go right now!"
The man turned his head to look at her and he let out a deep, raspy laugh before he pressed the knife deeper into Bran's neck and a red line began to form, the sight of that nearly caused Lyanna to drop her bow in shock but she managed to keep a hold of it. "Whose this boy? Who knew you had spearwives this side of the wall?"
Robb said nothing, he simply stared at the man in his eyes as he held his sword out. "Listen to me, if you let him go then I promise you that I will let you go. I am Robb Stark of Winterfell, son of Lord Eddard Stark. And I promise you that if you hurt my brother then there is nowhere in this world that you will be able to run where you will be safe from me."
Lyanna looked at her brother with a new respect in her eyes before she turned her attention back to the wilding woman who was holding the spear, she was seeming to Lyanna the less certain of the two and she looked as if she was about to say something to the man but before she could an arrow pierced the man's eye and Lyanna snapped her head around to see Theon standing there with his bow.
Lyanna snapped around to see the wilding woman dropping her spear but before she could say anything, before she could plead for mercy Lyanna let her arrow fly and watched as it pierced the other woman's throat. She gurgled once as her mouth filled with blood before she collapsed to the ground.
Lyanna lowered her bow as she looked at where the woman had fallen, she had never killed anyone before in her entire life. Well, she had executed that man but that had been different, her father had been ready to kill that man and if she didn't then he would have. She had always thought that it would have felt...different to kill someone who held a weapon, she had thought about killing before, Robb was often central when it came to those thoughts but actually killing someone wasn't the same. She wasn't sad, she wasn't happy, she just was.
A hand clasped around her shoulder and she looked up to stare in Robb's eyes. He seemed angry. "She dropped her weapon, you didn't need to kill her."
"She tried to kill Bran and you we're going to show her mercy, I don't think so. Would you show her mercy if her friend had opened his throat? No, she deserved to die either way." She pulled her arm out of Robb's grasp and stalked over to Bran, knelt down next to him and picked him up.
He tried to say something but Lyanna hushed him as she began to carry him over to her horse, he felt so light in her arms. She didn't care what Robb thought, if someone tried to hurt her family then they had to be dealt with harshly.
Mercy had it's place, but not when it came to what was hers.
End of Chapter Twenty-One
Just in case you are wondering, yes that was Osha that Lyanna killed so sorry Osha fans. I have no issues with Osha the character but this is just a side effect of Lyanna's presence.
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