The Reign of the Silver Wolf
Disclaimer- I do not own any of these all characters and entire Got/Asoiaf universe belongs to G.R.
Chapter 2:-A Rude Awakening and a Mountain Full of Gold (literally)
Benjen was back in his rooms at Riverrun. Reading a book, while sitting back on a comfy chair. The fire was roaring in the hearth. He was waiting for Brandon's wedding so they could finally go back to Winterfell. They had been in the south for far too long. He missed the snows and could not wait to be back home. They were leaving in a week. All was perfect, what could possibly go wrong. How had he learned not to tempt the fate that day? He remembered this day as if it had happened yesterday. The door suddenly burst open and in came Brandon. He was seething, Benjen could tell; his face was contorted in rage. He waved around a letter in the air and finally spoke,
"What is the meaning of this?" Benjen could have replied with a witty remark but seeing his brother, he held in his tongue. Now was not the time to test Brandon's patience. So instead he replied," What could you possibly mean?"
"This letter of course. I found it in Lyanna's rooms, she has disappeared. This letter says that Crown prince will be a far better match for her than the Robert Baratheon. How wonderful Rhaegar is and how she would be his second wife like Targayens of the old. How horrible it will be to have Robert as her husband and how she will be next Queen of the Seven Kingdoms." Benjen meanwhile was listening with growing horror. His eyes were as wide as saucers. Brandon did not pay him any heed and continued with his rant, "How delusional they think we must be that we will believe such filth .This letter is obviously false. Written under Lyanna would never do such a thing as running away with crown prince. Isn't it? " when he was finally done Brandon was out of breath and heaving.
Benjen in this time was having a major anxiety attack. He had known of course of Lyanna's affection for prince but had thought that she was fooling around. He was a married man for god's sake! Running away with him to be a second wife was pure folly. How had she not thought about the consequences? He had to think fast to diffuse the situation before it could get ugly. He was broken from his worrying by Brandon smashing a vase on the floor he suddenly leapt up and went to his brother. He really had to calm the situation before Brandon did something foolish. Brandon's wolfs blood was a curse during these situations.
"Lyanna did sneak out a few times during our stay at Harrenhel. She had promised me to not tell you and Ned anything. I did not know she whom was meeting. And I surely never knew that it was Crown Prince." He gulped as he saw expression on Brandon's face, if they found Lyanna, she would have a lot to answer for. He was sure.
When Brandon finally spoke his voice was as cold as ice,
"So are you telling me that all this time you knew that she was sneaking out to meet somebody but saw it fit to not tell any of us? Of course it had to be Crown Prince why else would he crown her as his Queen of Love and Beauty at the tourney over his wife, after he won?
At that point in time Benjen knew that he was screwed completely. Lyanna had gotten him in lot of trouble when they found her, he would have a lot more than a few words to say.
Brandon then clenched his fists and punched the wall. He cursed under his breath and replied, "We do not know whether she has really runaway with him or she has been kidnapped. I refuse to believe that she would run away with. This letter must surely be false or forced. Lyanna could never do such a thing. I say that we should go right now to King's Landing and demand them to return her back."
Benjen saw that such plan had a lot of flaws and it could really backfire. They did not even know whether the Crown Prince had taken Lyanna to the capital or somewhere else. Running off to the capital where Mad King was burning people alive while all the court cheered and laughed was certainly not the time to go and demand justice forth. He had to stop Brandon now before he could do such a thing.
"Brandon I know that you are angry but now right now we must think with cool heads. We cannot go to King's Landing demanding the Crown Prince to return her back. I say we stay here and call the father to deal with this. Surely he knows how to deal with this."
Brandon shot him look of pure hatred and slammed the door on his way out. He thought he was done for,when Brandon left. He could not have waited anymore and instantly began composing a letter to Father. He could not believe that his sister had herself dragged away by the Crown Prince. Had she lost her senses?
She had shouted and cried about Robert having a bastard in Vale yet she run off with a married man who had two children. Even then it was on the Crown Prince's word about taking her as a second wife. While there were Targayens who had taken two wives before but those were times of long gone, they had dragons to enforce their wills. Having two wives had led them to Blackfyres and dance of the Dragons and countless many rebellions and even the faith militant uprising. Did she really believe that Rhaegar would really marry her? Benjen really did not knew what to do. He knew the truth must be told to his people but if he did, all it would lead to shame on is family and his sister would be known as a seductress and a harlot. He decided the best decision was to write the letter barebones to his father and wait.
Benjen then woke up with a gasp as he remembered that this was as it had happened that day in Riverrun. When the father had written back, he asked Benjen to return back to Winterfell and so that he could travel to South. For there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. When he had reached Moat Caliln, he had found out that Brandon had not listened and run off to King's Landing along with his friends. Father had followed behind him thinking that he could prevent him from doing anything rash but it was too late for it by then.
Benjen finally got up felt that his body was drenched in sweat. He had to take a bath, he moved near where the water basin was kept. When he washed his face he looked up in the mirror. These dreams were having their effects on his body. He could see his face was marred by gaunt lines and his eyes were bloodshot. Same dreams had kept repeating since he had heard about Lyanna. He was hardly able to sleep these days and his head hurt every time he woke up.
Benjen had been staying at the inn near the castle that was being constructed, but he knew that it would soon stop. The ancient stronghold of the First Men had been abandoned a few centuries ago. It was in ruins; time and weather had ten their toll on the castle. Despite construction going on for a few years it was still inhabitable. At least for a Lord of his standing. The estimates ranged anywhere from five to ten years, but nobody knew for sure how long it would take. Also the construction had to be halted due to Ned's insistence on helping Robert rebuild the Capital. It would take a lot of time and money. Money they could not spare. He imagined what the castle would be in all its glory like back in the old days. But that was during the time of theFishers. It was magnificent castle to be sure but nowhere near Winterfell. But no castle could be as great as Winterfell, so he had to do by what was available. It was surrounded by few hills and had lots of forest that could be used to build ships and two coastlines where these ships could be used.
The last northern ships were harbored here. Before Brandon the Burner burnt all of them down. It had the most natural harbor that he had ever seen for ships to dock. He was by no means master of ships but he knew that from what he had heard and read. It could surely be useful if the ironborn decided to raid again. Last Lord Greyjoy had recently died and they did not know of his sons allegiances. If what he had heard about Balon Greyjoy was true, it was in near future. It was surely necessary for them to now start building up their fleet. But since Ned had prevented him from using the silver in Winterfell. He did not know where to source the money for the ships from. Once they had built the ships they could surely pay off the money using trade but taking out loans was a precarious situation and money might be needed in the winter. The people here were hardy and sea faring, so there would be no shortage of sailors in near future. These areas were thinly populated as the lands were not suited for agriculture. Many people here made their livelihoods either by fishing or as woodcutter's who used to cut down ironwood forests that surrounded the area to the west in Wolfswood.
A few years back father had sent some miners having heard rumors of some precious stone, to see if there was anything of value in the hills surrounding the area. The work was going on at the castle but it will soon be halted. If they were able to find something of precious value here it could be mined and the revenue generated could be used built the castle again and even facilitate the trade. Benjen was giddy with anticipation. Yesterday, when he had found two people claiming that they had seen some people mining in make shift area, he was following them today.
When Benjen reached the area pointed out by small folk. He found a dozen or so people milling around and trying to find something, he got of his horse and went up to a nearby man who had sat down in dirt. He dropped next to him and asked," What is going on here?" the man's head popped up and when he saw him, his eyes widened and he turned to run off. Benjen thought was that was about and felt like smacking his head. Of course the men would run away. These men were mining here illegally and him showing up dressed as a lord would not help. He gave the call to his men that were hidden in the nearby bushes. His men burst forth and gave chase. He too ran to chase the man. When he finally caught up to him he tripped him. Trapping the man under his body was hard due to his small frame but the guards helped him subdue him.
"Well my good man, what were you trying to mine here?" the man apparently knew the situation he was in and decide to answer, "Milord nothing-" his sentence was cut short when the guard standing next to him punched him. What was the guard's name again? Yes it was Erik. He had to ask him stop unless the man lost consciousness again so he waved is hand.
Erik stopped and turned to stand back at his place. "The truth. Now" that had the man started quivering and muttered,
"Milord we were mining some dark green stone here. The merchant who arrives from White Harbor pays a lot of money for it." He answered from his bloodied mouth.
"A dark green stone you say" Benjen said not believing him." Yes milord I have some with me in that sack" pointing to a bag lying nearby.
Benjen asked one of the guards to empty the sack. The guard proceeded to dump the entire bag out; Benjen saw that the bag was indeed filled with some dark green stone that did not look so impressive. It was no emerald he could tell. But the real question was why a merchant from White harbor pay a lot of money for some ordinary green stone.
"Well my dear fellow I think it is time for us to acquaint you with Winterfell's hospitality." The man's eyes widened in fear as Benjen revealed his identity. Benjen tucked the queer green stone in his pockets and turned around walk up to his horse. It was time to be back in Winterfell perhaps the jeweler at Winter town might have some answers for him.
Benjen was anxiously waiting for the jeweler William to say something. That man had been observing the green rock for quite some time now. As he was about to speak up, the man finally said something," Yes, my lord you are right this is no emerald." Benjen as he heard tihs slumped and his head hit the table. But the old man continued," But by The Old God's! it is if I am not wrong the mineral known as "jade". It is mostly found in Essos, it is in great demand across the Narrow Sea. Why they pay a good deal of money for it east of the Bone Mountains."
Benjen eyes lit up as he heard that. It was really worth some money. "How much does it fetch?" he asked.
"I can confidently say that my lord, this is worth two to five times its weight in gold in Yiti" William said putting down the stone.
"Two to five times its weight in gold you say" Benjen was so happy that he felt that he could kiss the old jeweler. If it was really worth that much amount of gold then, he need not worry for anymore gold. After all, his holdings were filled to brim with this so called "jade". Life had truly taken a turn for the better for Benjen.
AN:- Here are some of your questions answered
Why is Benjen such a horrible person in first chapter? To Catelyn especially?
Benjen is 16year old who was raised in the North his entire life. He lost his mother at young age and only knew of her from what his father and brother had told him. He had made this persona of her based on other's description of her and taking in the best of other Northern ladies. Catelyn meanwhile is completely opposite and does not fit this persona. He despises her not based on her origins but rather because she goes against everything he had thought about how a Lady Stark should be. Also the first impressions she had made on him matters. He does not have a lot of ladies to judge from so he judges her based on Lyanna and his Mother's persona that he had created. Benjen was closest to Lyanna out of all his siblings and he regrets what happened. He already sees Catelyn as an outsider and thinks that she has no right to judge Lyanna's son the way she does even if she not know his true parentage. That's why he is so protective of Jon because he thinks that he can make up to his sister by raising her son right.
He has recently heard about his sister's demise. He is sad and angry also he feels guilty due to his inaction. This is what I think drove canon Benjen to take to the Black and repent. He needs someone to blame and finds Catelyn as a likely target; who goes against his thinking of how she should be. He rather liked Ashara who wanted to get to know him as a person and fit his persona whereas Catelyn had eyes only for Brandon.
He is not prejudiced about south, but thinks that all these problems were caused because of his father's southern ambitions which were fueled by the master. And thinks that these caused almost ruin of House Stark. He does not want that to happen again and thinks Ned ways would bring just that who is behaving like a typical southern lord. His building of a sept at Winterfell signifies that. Benjen thinks that is blasphemous because north has been always been a kingdom of the first men who worshipped old gods. They had repelled all the invasions by Andal kingdoms to the south; only for Ned to build a sept at Winterfell. Him letting Catelyn raise his children exactly like she likes in the light of seven, would make them naive and foolish, all according to Benjen who does not want mini Catelyn's running around Winterfell.
I am grateful that you took time to write down a review and thankful that you pointed out those disparities. As I said earlier Benjen as of now is a 16 year old. And he might grow up. I chose his character due to the reason so little people know about him besides he is hardly mentioned in the canon.
Why is Ned paying for rebuilding the Capital? The treasury was full during Mad King's reign.
King's Landing was sacked by the Lannisters, but somehow they left the treasury alone? Come on guys, while I understand that some of that money was returned as Dowry for Cersei. But that was surely not enough for them to rebuild an entire city.
But OBK surely Benjen knew that Lyanna was meeting Rhaegar?
No he did not. Lyanna was much like Arya, she liked to sneak out. Benjen did not pay any mind to it as it was Lyanna's habit.
This chapter is short, but seeing that many of you guys followed the story. Like literally 25 follows a day. I felt obliged to reward you so here is a short chapter. Next one will be in 10 to 15 days. But if we get more follows perhaps I might write another bonus chapter. Who knows.
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-The Obsidian Knight
