Chapter 36: The King in The North

Flashback

It was just another day in Winterfell. Early morning and Eddard had already gotten up, dressed himself and ate breakfast, normally he would be the only one to do this so early but today as well as the next few days were going to be different. Cregan was visiting from The Reach and all of his siblings were intent to spend as much time as they could together. He could only stay for a week and of those seven days five had already passed. During those five days he has spent a lot of time with Robb, Sansa, Arya and Bran and with Rickon only being two years old he still wasn't used to their games. Cregan would spar with Robb, Theon and Jon, beating each one of them to the dirt every time, he would sing with his twin Sansa, much to the delight of their mother, and he would teach Bran and Arya in the ways of the sword and bow, being much less brutal in their sparring sessions than with his older brothers and Theon.

All of these things made Eddard smile. He was glad that, even though he had spent more than eight years in The South, Cregan's home was The North and he could still connect with his family. But something was different though, something that made Eddard worried, since he turned ten Eddard didn't see his second son laugh or smile once, he saw no emotion in his face or eyes, no happines in his voice or tone. This had only gotten worse with each year that passed, every time that Cregan would visit his family Eddard could see a difference in attitude. Eddard was once the same, shy, timid, silent, many of these things Cregan replicated. However, unlike Eddard who was shy yet would still talk to other people, Cregan seemed to outright avoid people or any sort of conversation, the rare times he would talk would always be with either his siblings, Eddard or Catelyn.

As he continued to think about his son Eddard's smile dissapeared, he started to become more and more worried before deciding he should probably just talk to Cregan and try to find out why he is acting like this.

Eddard then started to look for Cregan, he started with the courtyard where Rodrick Cassel was tutoring Robb, Jon and Theon in sword fighting. When he asked about Cregan all of them only shrugged in cloulessness stating that they haven't seen him all day. Eddard then went to Arya and Bran, who were practising archery, he expected an answer from them but just like in the courtyard they only shrugged and said that they haven't seen him all day. Eddard was starting to get worried, it was unusual for nobody to atleast see Cregan but there was one last person who Eddard was sure would know where Cregan was, Sansa.

When Eddard got to Sansa's chamber doors he could her humming happily. Eddard then knocked on her door, "Come in!" he heard Sansa say from the other end. He entered the room to see her in front of a mirror and brushing her hair softly. Sansa had a warm, innocent smile on her face, usually the complete opposite expression to her twin Cregan.

"What is it father, you look worried?" Sansa said with her own bit of worry, noticing her fathers tired expression even though it was still morning.
"Sansa, have you seen Cregan anywhere?" Eddard finally responded, avoiding his daughters question to not make her suspicious.
"No... well, not that I can remember." she said while raising her eyebrow, now even more confused.
"That's just perfect" Eddard murmured to himself while still clinging on the handle of Sansa's chamber doors.
"Actually, come to think of it he did tell me that he was going to visit the crypts today" Sansa once again spoke up resulting in her father widening his eyes for a moment.

Eddard then rushed to his daughter, "Thank you sweetie!" he kissed on her forehead before rushing out of her room, leaving Sansa completely confused.

"What did I do?" Sansa confusingly said to no one but herself.

Eddard rushed to the crypts, praying that Cregan was actually there. When he got to the entrance of the crypts Eddard suddenly stopped, his heart slowed down as he regained his breath. Despite him wanting to find his son down there, Eddard didn't know if Cregan was even down there anymore, but he knew who was down there and Eddard wanted anything other than to see them again and be reminded of his failures. But even with all those things Eddard only took a deep breath before finally entering the crypts.

In the crypts very little could be seen, the little light all the torches gave out however was enough to see where someone was going. With the darkness also ruled an ear-piercing silence, every footstep, every breath, every twitch could be heard. Eddard continued to search for his son, intentionaly avoiding the one spot where Cregan would most likely be. He continued to search for him until he took a big gulp and looked to the last place.

He turned the corner to see Cregan staring at the statues of his grandfather, Rickard, his uncle Brandon and his aunt, Lyanna. "Cregan..." Eddard murmured only for his son to slowly turn his head towards him. Cregan stared at his father for a few more seconds, his gaze having not even the slightest amount of emotion, before turning back to the statue of Lyanna and picking up the blue winter rose from the statue's hand.

"Father..." Cregan once again turned to Eddard who stood frozen as he stared at his son in silence.

"... what did you promise her? What did you promise Aunt Lyanna?"

End of Flashback

Robb's POV

Being the next Warden of The North was something Robb was training for his entire life but he nexer expected it to happen like this. Just a few months ago he was only Ned Stark's eldest son and The Heir to Winterfell, now, he's leading both The North and The Riverlands against two kings now. Now that Renly was dead almost all of his vassals were slowly egging him on to join Stannis and if it were up to Robb he would join him, but Robb knew better than to question Cregan's intentions, if he told him to take no sides then The North will take no sides. However, despite Robb clearly stating they won't turn to Stannis many of The Riverlords still want to support him, another thing to add to his stress.

Whilst they bickered and squabelled The Westerlands were around raiding around the edges of The Riverlands, burning and pillaging anything in their path as well as taking Harenhall, another large blow to their defenses.

In response, Robb sent a host of around 5,000 men, lead by his uncle Edmure, to defend the Western defense lines of The Riverlands and try to repel The Lannister forces until the remaining Norhtern lords come to Riverrun. Now, Robb was sitting in the main hall with all of his lords as they discussed their next move. The forces of both The North and The Riverlands amounted to about 50,000 in total.

In the main hall were almost all the Riverlords as well as the Northern lords. Houses Umber, Glover, Mormont, Bolton, Manderly, Dustin and others sat on one side while Houses Bracken, Blackwood, Frey, Erenford, Whent, Mallister, Mooton and others sat opposite of The Northern lords. Many of the lords wanted to go on the offensive and attack The Lannisters in their own territory while the other side was suggesting they take King's Landing and take Cersei and her children hostage.

"We should march for Casterly Rock!" one of the lords shouted out, causing many to roar in aggrement.
"The capital is less defended, we could march there and take it easily!" another lord shouted out with an equal amount of roars supporting him.

These kinds of arguments filled the entire hall, the conversation lasted hours as Robb listened to every lords stance. After three hours of pure arguments it was time for Robb to make a decision. He stood up from his chair as all the lords went silent, carefully listening as they anticipated what their liege lord was going to say.

"We cannot march on Casterly Rock, nor can we march on the capital, not yet anyways. For now, we focus on taking back out territory in the Riverlands and defend it until we are sure it is secure." Robb spoke with as much authoroty as he could, many of the lords silently scoffed at their liege lords decision but respected his orders as there was truth in his words. It was then did all of them disperse as the only people who were left were Robb his mother, The Blackfish and his sister Sansa. Robb sat back in his chair, leaning his back on the chair and rubbing his forehead with his two fingers.

'Seven Hells Cregan, do you have to make my position as difficult as possible?' Robb thought to himself as he once again got up from his chair and leaned on the table where a map of Westeros was placed. On the map were many figurines, some of them had the wolf head of House Stark, some had the fish of House Tully while others had the lion head of House Lannister and the stag of House Baratheon. Robb looked at each figurine, strategising their next move in the proccess.

"Perhaps we should focus on taking Harrenhall back" his mother suggested as she walked over to the table and stood beside Robb.
"A lot of The Lannister forces are stationed within Harenhall and if they lose it then it will be massive dent in their army" Catelyn continued, much to the suprise of Robb, Sansa and Brynden.
"Mother, since when did you become a war strategist?" Sansa said with a slight smile on her face as she also approached the table.
"What do you think your father and I talked about during all those nights in bed" Catelyn let out a soft chuckle as both Robb and Sansa widened their eyes a bit.
"Ew, mother please, we do not need that kind of information" Robb said in bitter tone, his cheeks going slightly red from embarasment as his grand-uncle Brynded chuckled.

As they continued to chuckle for a few more moments a knock came from the doors, "Come in!" Robb said as the doors opened to reveal Theon entering with a slight smile on his face. Robb became suspicious of Theon's smile as it seemed a lot more devious than it seemed.

"Forgive me my lord but you have a visitor" Theon said, his smile dissapearing for a bit before it returned to his face.
"Whoever it is they can wait" Robb retorted, turning back to his map before being met with a familiar voice.

"Is that any way to treat your brother?" a male voice came from the doors resulting in everyone turning their head towards the entrance.

At first, Robb couldn't believe it, but there he was. Cregan stood in front of the doors, he wore dirty leather clothes as well as a slightly tattered black cloak with a hood. Cregan's face was covered in small scratches that cut just deep enough to leave scars but the most noticable wound was a large scar over his left eye but thankfully that was all it was, a scar. Cregan had the slightest trace of a smile on his face that was even less noticable than usual due to him now having a stubble while Robb, Catelyn and Sansa looked at him in shock and disbelief to see him again.

Sansa was the first to have her senses return to her. She ran to Cregan as the twins embraced each other. "Brother..." she whispered, her smile becoming wider as both her and Cregan wrapped their arms around each other. "I'm glad to see you too Sansa..." Cregan gave a simple response before then hugging his mother. During that Robb still stood silent before taking a few steps towards his brother.

"It's good to see you again Cregan" Robb said in a much softer voice, a nice change from his usual tone.
"You too brother" Cregan now had the least noticable smile on his face but it was still a smile.

"I have a lot to tell all of you but first, do you mind if I get some clean clothes."

Meanwhile, in King's Landing...

As Tyrion sat in his chair he listened to his sister babble on about the superioroty of the capital's defenses and that their enemies couldn't even dream of taking King's Landing. Tyrion knew better than that though, The Lannisters were fighting on two fronts and as his father focused on the war with Robb Stark, Stannis marched on King's Landing with an army of 40,000. King's Landing didn't have nearly enough men to defend it.

"Lord Varys, any news from our father in The Riverlands?" Tyrion turned to Varys who was sitting beside him as he spoke.
"He is currently stationed in Harenhall, along with the majority of The Westerland army." Varys reported only for Cersei to scoff at Tyrion.

"I don't see why you are worried so much about father, he can easily take care of those mongrels in The North" Cersei said with a wicked smile on her face.
"You underestimate The Starks too much dear sister." Tyrion said cinicaly, leaning back on his chair as he looked at the map of King's Landing.
"What are you talking about Tyrion?" Cersei raised her eyebrows as she glared daggers at Tyrion.
"My point, dear sister, is that, by killing Ned Stark, you have succesfully angered the most dangerous man in Westeros!" Tyrion responded only for Cersei to scoff at him again.
"Robb Stark is a child, he is no match for father!" Cersei once again boasted about their fathers prowess in war before she was interrupted by Tyrion.
"I'm not talking about Robb Stark, I'm talking about his little brother." Tyrion words made Cersei stiffen up a bit as Lord Varys interupted the two's bickering.

"Your grace, Lord Tyrion is right. From what my little birds have told me, Cregan Stark was the one who took Bitterbridge from us..." Varys said as softly as he could, trying not to offend the queen.
"Tell me Lord Varys, how many men did your little birds say he had with him?" Tyrion turned his head to Lord Varys but his eyes were fixed on Cersei.
"None my lord, he had killed the entire garrison single-handedly" Varys's response made Tyrion faint suprise as he turned to Cersei with a cocky smile.
"My my, one man against ten thousand, quite a feat wouldn't you say sister?" Tyrion said, his ego becoming even bigger as Cersei only clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.

Tyrion was satisfied for now, he had won this argument and after only a few moments of silence they all went back to planning the defense of the capital.

Vesemir's POV

Vesemir and his companios stood at the corner of the room, out of sight from the many lord's that occupied the main hall. While Rodrick, Lily, Tarkus and Edwyn only quietly talked amongst each other Vesemir watched as the noble lords bickered amongst each other. One said that they should join Stannis, the other said they should just march on Casterly Rock. Vesemir chuckled internaly at their debates, 'This is the nobility of our land?' he thought to himself.

"We will not bow to Stannis" Robb declared, his fierce roar silneced any arguments from the lords.

Silence then overcame the hall, many of the lords stood silent for a few more moments before another northern lord who Vesemir could recognise, Gregor Forrester.

"My lord Stark, forgive me but you cannot expect us to only sit here and stay neutral in this war" the lord pleaded his case only for Robb to look at him as he continued.
"I do not know what your plan is but unless you intend to tell us our only option is to proclaim Stannis as king..." before Robb could speak up another voice came from behind him.

"Tell me something Lord Gregor, do you worship the old gods?" Cregan came from behind his older brother, now looking much more presentable as a noble.
"Aye my lord, I do" the lord said confidently yet confused by Cregan's question.
"And how many of you here worship either the old gods or the new" Cregan then turned to all the lords who simply nodded or grunted in response.
"If you were to tell Stannis that you worshipped these gods then he would have you burned alive" his words made the entire hall fill with whispers of suprise, disbelief or confusion.
"My lord what are you saying?" Galbert Glover spoke up as he looked at Cregan.

"Stannis has long abandoned The Faith of The Seven, that much is known, but do any of you know about his current religion?" Cregan's words once again made everyone in the hall confused, all but Vesemir, who only let out sly smile towards Cregan, already aware of what he was going to say.

"Stannis serves The Lord of Light, and by their laws anyone who does not 'accept' the Lord of Light is destined to burn"

The hall was now in uproar, everyone was trying to outvoice the other until one single man stood from his chair. A tall and bulky man with hair and a beard as white as Vesemir's. He was almost as tall as Tarkus which, by itself, would be intimidating enough, Tarkus was seven feet tall while this lord would be just up to his nose. It was very obvious who he was, GreatJon Umber.

"My lord, MY LORDS..." he quelled all of them with his voice. "Why should we bend to some king who would burn us all the moment the war ends!" GreatJon scoffed before continuing. "Here's what I say to that king..." Umber then spat at the ground resulting in everyone letting out a slight chuckle, Vesemir included.

After making his little speech everyone thought he was finished before Umber took the handle of his sword before unsheathing it and pointing it towards Robb. His next words made everyone widen their eyes in suprise.

"There sit's the only king I mean to bend my knee too..." Umber knelt before Robb, looking directly at him as he continued.
"The King in The North!" Umber declared only for silence to surround the hall.

"I'll have peace on those terms!" Lord Glover stood from his chair before unsheathing his sword as he also knelt before Robb, "The King in The North!".

The next person to stand up was Theon as he looked directly at Robb. "Am I your brother, now and always?" Theon asked him. "Now and always..." Robb answered him as Theon knelt down before him and continued. "Then I will serve you, through victory and defeat!"

Now Umber, Glover and Theon knelt before him but then Robb turned to his brother Cregan who only walked in front of him, pulled out his swords and knelt down as he stabbed both of his swords Frostbite and Demonsteel into the ground. "My blades are your's brother, from this day and until my death" Cregan declared.

"THE KING IN THE NORTH!" GreatJon roared out as all the lords pulled out their swords and started chanting

"THE KING IN THE NORTH! THE KING IN THE NORTH! THE KING IN THE NORTH!" the chants echoed throughout the entirity of Riverrun as the howl of wolves could be heard from the outside. Vesemir only looked as Robb Stark stood amongst his vassals.

'Congratulations Ned, your son's a king'

Note:

Here it is people, the long overdue scene that every Stark fan gushed over when they first saw it in the show. Phew, this was a hard one to write, especially since Renly was dead by now and I had to make a good reason for Robb not to join Stannis, something else that I had to focus on was that I had to alter the dialogue a bit for GreatJon mainly because of the future plans I have for Robb. But all that trouble was worth it just for writing those five words.

The King in The North bitches.

Also, tell me what you guys think of the story and give me your suggestions on where this story should go because I am honestly running out of ideas here people.

As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please do post your reviews and tell me your thoughts on the story so far, your advice etc. Thank you for all the reviews, favorites and follows and I will see you all next time.