Jon IV:

Anxiousness was spreading through the air. War had been declared on the North by the Iron Throne, and although I didn't want to go to war, I would certainly be the winner here. We had more men, not to mention Houses Tully and Tyrell decided to side with us here, courtesy of our familial connections. I had no idea who had framed us, since I knew we were not responsible for Prince Tommen's death, but I would make sure that he would be brought to justice. As soon as he is found I will personally Blood Eagle him, and then and only then, would I rip out his entrails fort he Heart Tree. I had Bran and the rest of the greenseers searching for who the culprit was, but it was only for vengeance. War was inevitable now. It didn't matter that we truthfully denied these allegations, their troops were already mobilizing and with that cunt King's fanatic beliefs this had only sped up an inevitable war. I was with my cousin in my tent, just speaking with him helped ease my mind. I had no brothers by my father, but if I considered someone worthy of that honor, it would be him.

"I bet you really miss doing your duty to your wife cousin." said Robb while smiling. I looked at him annoyed, and snapped back:

"And I bet you miss spending coin to make Ros act as if you're a good lover Robb."

"HA! She must be missing me right about now! Last time I visited her she told me I was the best she had ever had, and that says a lot."

"Aye, but I think you are confused. She msut have meant that you were the best payer she had ever had, not the best in bed. You must be hard of hearing if you heard that!" I said smiling.

"If you say so Jon, if you say so…. wait, forgive me, I seem to have forgotten my place. I am sorry Your Grace." he said while dragging out the words, a shiteating smirk on his face. I groaned.

"You do know I could order you to call me by my name instead of that ridiculous title don't you?" I responded.

"But will you? I don't think so King Stark." he said, still smirking at me. I looked at him, blank faced, and then we started laughing.

"You know, I still feel weird when I'm addressed like that." I said.

"I can imagine. Father always said that Kingship is no easy burden. What do you think of what will happen now that War is upon us?"

"Many things Robb, many things. I know many will die for a war I have no wish to participate in. I must though, for our people. King Joffrey means to change our way of life, our Gods, for his Seven. Andals killed Giants and the Children, they chopped the Weirwoods and their Maesters and Septons hate anything associated with magic. They mean to change everything that makes us First Men, and that will not be allowed to happen."

"Aye, you speak the truth. But we will turn them back like we always have. They never even managed to place roots in the North, even the Manderlys worship the Old Gods now, and even with my mother worshipping their gods they are still only seen South of the Neck. We will win Jon. Those southerners will know what our House words really mean." he said confidently. I smiled at him, thankful for the support. A bit later a soldier came in and told us that the members of my council were ready at the Chambers.

I started walking towards the Council Chambers, where I would meet with the council in order to plan our moves for the coming war. My cousin Robb was trailing beside me, ready to learn how these things operated. Once my Uncle retired he would be my Fist of Winter, so he would start attending Council Meetings and would trail me once the war started. Beside him was Margeary. She was visibly worried, evident by her continued petting of Ghost in an effort to calm herself. I knew her well enough by now that she was frustrated by her lack of knowledge in war. She could dance around lords and ladies in the courtroom with unmatched grace, yet she knew nothing of how a battlefield worked. She was also worried about the fact that I would have to march out with the army, especially so soon after she had gone to Maester Aemon and gotten her pregnancy confirmed. It was still in the early stages but we were both overjoyed with the development. She would stay here, running the North with Bran and Aemon's help, while I would be marching with the army. She was furious at that, citing that as King I did not need to fight, since I had many men who would happily do it for me. I just told her the same thing my father had once told me:

"Northeners will never fight for a King who does not march with his soldiers. A King's role is to protect his kingdom, not have others do it for him. The day a Stark cowers behind his castle is the day the Starks stop being Kings." I still remembered her shocked expression at that. She had never heard anything like it. Afterwards she had calmed down and that was the end of it.

We arrived at the Council Chambers and I opened the door. The members were already there, grim expressions present on their faces. I pulled up Margeary's seat for her and then sat down myself. Robb was left standing at a corner of the room since he was not officially part of the council.

"Greatjon, what is the status of the Royal Army? What about our vassals, how many men can we count on?"

"Your Grace, we have 5,000 men at the Twins, while the other 15,000 will march as soon as you order them. Since you dictated that no men from Beyond the Wall would fight in the Southern War we can count on 80,000 men from our lords South of the Wall. The 40,000 men Beyond the Wall will stay behind as per your decry." he answered.

"Very well. We march South tomorrow with the 15,000 Wintersoldiers we have available. Inform the lords to bring 60,000 men to meet us mid-march while another 20,000 are left here should a second host be needed. Uncle Benjen, are the men of the Navy ready?"

"Aye, Your Grace. We are ready to deploy at any time." he answered.

"Then have 20 ships pass through the Northern Cannal to join the 50 ships posted on our Western Coast. We must be weary of the Ironborn, as they will use any sign of weakness as an opportunity to raid. Lord Manderly, would you be willing to offer support to our Eastern Navy with a few of your ships?" Uncle Benjen nodded at me and then looked at Lord Manderly for an answer.

The Northern Cannal stretched from White Harbour to Moat Cailin and then to Saltspear, which finally connected with Blazewater Bay. It connected our Western and Eastern coasts and allowed our Navy to move undisturbed by Southern forces.

Lord Manderly answered me: "I would be glad to offer aid to the Navy with my ships, Your Grace."

"I am glad to hear it My Lord. Lord Commander Mormont, ensure that the Watch keeps functioning as it always has. I won't have them marching South." I told him.

"It will be done, Your Grace."

"Bran, what is the status of the South. How many men will we be facing, and how many can we expect from our allies?" I asked Bran.

"The Lannisters losses in the Battle of the Blackwater were minimal, about 3,000, since most of the crown's casualties were the Gold cloaks. We can expect about 60,000 Westernlanders, along with about 15,000 Riverlanders who will also be fighting for the Crown. Houses Vance, Mooton, Bracken, Wode and Hawick have declared for King Joffrey, splitting the Riverlands in half. The Tullys can theoretically provide us with about 15,000 men if the rest of their vassals follow them. Meanwhile, the Reach lords have mostly stayed behind the Tyrells. We can expect 60,000 men from the Tyrells, while about 20,000 Reachmen will fight for the Crown. The Vale has officially declared for Joffrey as well, as my Aunt was visited by a Lord Baelish a week ago, who is definitely responsible for my aunt's actions. Those are 40,000 men who will potentially fight us as well. There has been discontent in the Vale, so there may eventually be a grab for power by one of their strongest vassals, but right now there hasn't been anything solid. The Crownlands are still silent, and so no word of support from them has been heard for Joffrey, while the Stormlands can at most provide 20,000 men after their losses at the Blackwater. They will most likely stay out of this war, as they have no figure to rally behind, now that both Stannis and Renly are dead." he said.

"I see. Then we will operate based on the fact that the Vale will also fight against us in this war. Bran, you will stay in Winterfell to help Queen Margeary rule while we march South. Send any pertinent information via one of your ravens should anything important be found. My Lords, if we have finished, then this meeting is dismissed."

With that the councilors stood up and exited, leaving me alone with my wife. "Let us walk to our chambers, we can talk more freely there." She nodded and took my hand, and then we started walking to our chambers. We finally arrived and once we did she let go of my arm and looked at me.

"My family and the Tully's are rebelling against the Crown. What do you plan to do? Will you annex these territories? What happens after we win?" I was touched at her confidence in our chances of victory, but it didn't change the fact that I did not know what would happen after all of this was over.

"Margeary, to be honest I have not even thought about the consequences of this. I could annex the Riverland territories, but having the Reach under me would be spreading my self too thin. It is too far South for me to rule, and I am a Stark King, a Northener. Winterfell will always be our seat of power. Speak to your grandmother about this, and then to your Father and brother. We need to have a plan of action for when this war is won." She nodded at me, worry in her face.

"You will be careful? I know I cannot convince you to let others lead and fight for you, but that is no reason to enter the thick of fighting for no reason other than your pride." She asked me, worry in her tone. I smiled at her calmly.

"Do not worry. I will come back from this. I need to meet our future children do I not?" I told her reassuringly. She looked at me funny, and then said:

"They say Starks are the most honorable men in Westeros. Do you promise to come back?"

"Aye my Wife, I promise to come back from this." I told her, while looking right at her. I leaned in and kissed her, and the rest of the night was filled with the sounds of our lovemaking.

It had taken us a month to march to the Twins. By the time we had crossed the Neck the Lannister army had already marched through the Riverlands and Tywin Lannister was currently sieging Riverrun. Our Warg Scout reports had estimated about 30,000 Westernlanders, with about 15,000 additional Riverlanders, most from houses who were either located closer to King's Landing or form those with grudges against House Tully or some other house which had sided with us. Additionally, Tywin Lannister had apparently hired every single sellsword company not named the Golden Company. Those brought him an additional 15,000 men he could deploy, 10,000 of which he had with him here in the Riverlands. The other 5,000 he had sent with his brother Kevan to invade the Reach with the other 30,000 Westerlanders and 20,000 Reach men who had pledged themselves for King Joffrey. We would be facing approximately 55,000 men once we battled. We were about 80,000 strong, so we had the definite advantage in numbers, but I still found myself annoyed at Edmure Tully's utter incompetence. He did not even manage to muster his banners before his lands were invaded, and just yesterday he was put under siege, at least according to my warg scouts. Now it would fall to me and my men to free him. He would need to hold for at least 1 week, as that was the quickest I could push my army before I would need to absorb their territories as recompense, my Lords would demand nothing less. I would be meeting with the Greatjon and my Uncle Ned to plan our attack plan against the Lannisters. I reached the Command Tent and directed a soldier to fetch them for me, with orders to include Robb as well. They arrived and greeted me.

"Your Grace!" they said while bowing

"Stand my Lords. I am in need of your expertise. Help me plan our strategy against the Southerners."

"As you wish, Your Grace." said my Uncle. "I predict they will meet us on the field quickly, as if they do not they expose themselves to the rest of the Riverlords finally organizing themselves and gathering even more men against them. Tywin is well versed in the art of war, he will not allow himself to be outnumbered even more than he already is."

"If he is expecting us then we will need to rely on shock value if we are to win the first battle quickly. I do not want to waste more lives than necessary. Should we deploy the Giants first, to cause Chaos, and then deploy Infantry and Cavalry to finish them off? What of the battlefield? Where will we fight? Or is it possible that Riverrun might fall before we arrive and are thus forced to conduct a siege?" I asked them.

"Your Grace, I find it probable that we are forced to conduct a siege against Riverrun. Edmure Tully has so far proven to be utterly incompetent as a military leader and as such I think it prudent we do not push our troops to reach Riverrun quickly. Lord Tywin is well-known for being a great military commander, evidenced by the Fifth Blackfyre rebellion, the sieges of both Tarbeck Hall and Castamere and his attack on King's Landing. I estimate it will only be a few days before the Tully's flop." responded Greatjon. My uncle Ned followed him up by saying:

"As much as it pains me to agree with Lord Umber here, I fear he is correct. My brother by law is a fool, a child of summer. He has no hope of defeating Tywin before we manage to get there. Aside from that, they are not our vassals. We may be connected due to my marriage, but that by no means our King must ride for their aid. We should set pace for a week and a half. That is the quickest I estimate we can arrive if we do not want to fatigue our army. Are you in agreement Lord Umber?"

"Aye, I am. Regarding a pitched battle, well Your Grace I will discuss our strategy with the Fist of Winter should it be found necessary, but for now I recommend siege preparations be conducted. We should have the carpenters handle the building of the bridges we will need to be able to get to the walls, as Lord Tywin will raise the draw bridges so we cannot storm the castle. We will need to start gathering wood from now on as well, as it is possible Lord Tywin will have the trees close to Riverrun burnt so we cannot make use of them. Anything more regarding our strategy is pointless as it could change in a moment's notice, thus we will have to wait until we arrive there, Your Grace." said Greatjon.

"Very well. This meeting is dismissed." I said, and they both bowed and left the tent. As soon as they did I sat down and started rubbing on Ghost's fur, something of a coping mechanism I had apparently developed to deal with the stresses of Kingship.

"Soon many northmen will die, thousands in fact, and they will all perish because I ordered them to. I did not even want to go to war, yet it was forced upon us. Do you think I am being a good king, Ghost, when I am going to send thousands to their deaths?" I asked my companion. He just looked at me silently, gazing up to me with his red orbs, and then he whined a bit and moved closer to me, rubbing his head on me. I smiled, a bit comforted at his gesture, and thought back on Maester Aemon's words. Kill the boy Jon Stark, and let the man be born. The North needed a man, not a boy, and that is what I will be.

Author's Note:

Hey guys! What did ya'll think of this? Are the tactics enjoyable to read about (I admit I do not know much about medieval tactics, but I am trying to learn!)? Is Jon too OOC or is he cool? Do you guys want some new POV (hint hint)? Thanks for reading guys, I really appreciate it. Leave a review if you can, and if not then thank you for the support!