I'm sorry for introducing an OC, but for some points of view I require another character, and I don't know any fitting ASOIAF characters who are in the right sort of location. Please tell me what you think about this, if it disturbs the story too much, I will delete this chapter, and will try to find another way to do this.

BETHANY

Bethany Darkwood sighed. Normally she would finally have some time to herself early in the evening, while lady Rykker had supper with her family. But today she wasn't that lucky. She was called again, even though she had only just returned from her duties. She bore little love to the family ruling Duskendale, but for a second daughter of a knight there was little more than she could do than to be a glorified servant. Slowly she got up, and headed to the sound of that awful call that came far too often, the shrill voice of lady Falyse calling her name.

She headed to her lady. The woman was fat, old and hideous, or at least, that was how she looked to Bethany. Everything about her was repulsive to the young woman who had to serve her, even though she wore a false smile on her face, as always. "My lady?"

"Bethany.", she replied, "Come with me to the walls."

Bethany wondered why this would be, there didn't seem to be a reason for that, and the lady hated going outside, especially in the dark. "Might I ask why, my lady?"

"My lord husband is meeting with a party of knights, and I want to see what is happening."

The girl bowed her head, and followed her mistress to the walls. If only she could get away with a good push. She wondered what it would sound like, the lady shrieking as she fell, and then the crash into the hard ground below. She often had such dark thoughts, especially towards Falyse. She hated her, utterly and completely, but would never be able to do anything without hurting herself even more.

After a brief walk, during which the lady kept talking to her, mostly about her dresses and food, which completely bored Bethany, they arrived at the walls. It was half-dark already, and it was hard to see anything. Except some fifty feet from the gates. There were knights there, mounted on tall horses and wearing glittering armour. They carried torches, and stood almost unnaturally still. She found it hard to make out the sigils on their shields, but she could see some sort of animal that could have been a howling wolf. A sign that could only point to the North, with which they were at war. She had heard rumours, and they said all sorts of things, and most of them were completely insane. One said that King's Landing had fallen, others that it had repelled all assaults. Someone even claimed that the dead were walking. Bethany didn't believe that, and had resolved to wait for ravens with true news rather than all these insane ideas. As though some woman appearing from nowhere could destroy all armies of the Seven Kingdoms on her own.

Her eye was caught by a fluttering banner. It was black, depicting a wolf howling to a red moon. Bethany knew most houses of Westeros and their sigils, but she had never heard of any like that. Between the knights she spotted a shorter form, sitting in a most peculiar way, sideways. And if she could see it correctly, it was a woman of some kind. For a moment she thought that the woman looked right at her, and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

And then the gates opened, and lord Rykker, along with several of his household knights rode forth, to meet with the strangers. She couldn't hear what was being said, but she could hear that the lord was raising his voice, while his knights seemed uneasy. He started gesticulating wildly, but there was no visible reaction from the opposing party. Lady Falyse commented: "What are they talking about? And why are they making my husband angry?"

"I don't know, my lady, but it seems as though they are making some sort of demand of him."

The meeting lasted a little longer, before the visibly enraged lord rode back to the castle, at a tremendous speed. The strangers remained for a few moments, before their torches went out, and everything was shrouded in darkness. She kept watching, and almost didn't notice that Falyse had already left the ramparts.

She rapidly followed, and heard her shrill voice in the courtyard: "What is happening?"

The lord's face seemed red, even in the poor light, and her growled: "Some bitch says that she has an army, and wants me to surrender. Me! Surrender! To her!"

He kept raging and fuming, and Bethany came to understand that this woman, who called herself von Carstein, had claimed that Duskendale was hers in accordance with treaties she had made, and wanted him to submit to her rule and laws. Naturally, the lord had refused, even when she threatened that the castle and the town below would come under siege.