Eddard II
The smoke rising from the city was the first indication that something was wrong. Ned had set a gruelling pace for his army, marching down the Kingsroad and leaving the Blackfish's slower host far behind. Yet no one complained, or if they did, they did it out of his earshot. The zeal of the Northern lords in avenging their lord and his much-loved heir was equal to his own drive to avenge his murdered family. And taking the capital was supposed to fulfil the debt of blood. Ned did not care what would happen then, so long as he saved Lyanna and brought the Mad King down.
As his host neared the city and he saw the Lannister banners inside, Ned knew he was too late. Before he could even consider preparing for a siege or waiting for Robert's army to arrive, an unexpected sight greeted him: the gates of the city were opened wide. Whether this was a mistake or the actions of a turncloak, Ned commanded his force to go inside before the gates could be closed again. They weren't and as Ned saw the city, he knew why. The Lannisters were sacking the capital and likely doing so in Robert's name. He saw a man fight his way into a house, dressed in more finery than anything its inhabitants likely owned. Ned quickly sent five of his men inside as screams of a woman or child erupted from the house. The Lannister knight—and he spit at the thought of a man who behaved as this being called a knight—was quickly subdued and pulled out of the house but this was the state of every house not fortunate enough to be sturdily defended. I don't have enough men to stop the pillaging, Ned realised. Lord Karstark, healed from the wound taken at the Trident and determined to make up for having been unable to attend the war council, echoed his thoughts a moment later.
Gathering his forces before they started to join the Lannisters in their looting, Ned rode towards the Red Keep to put an end to this war. He was greeted by open gates there as well, though Lannister soldiers had beat them there. They seemed disinclined to fight them at least, and one of Lord Crakehall's sons even led him to the Throne Room. Ned froze as he took note of the state of the room he had entered. Even in the middle of a war, with his father and brother's murderer in front of him, Ned's eyes could not help but linger on the skulls of the fearsome beasts the Targaryens once rode. The second thing he perceived was the metallic scent he'd come to recognise as blood.
But as he looked at the throne and its occupant, he froze again for a different reason. The king who should have been sitting on the throne instead lay sprawled on the ground and the corpse had an ever-growing pool of red around it. Jaime Lannister sat on the throne they had been fighting a year for, his sword, red with the Mad King's blood, displayed proudly in his lap. The blood was still dripping from it. His smile was just as haughty and conceited as it was at the Tourney of Harrenhal, two years and centuries ago. Something felt off about that smile, as if it was a mummer's imitation and not real, though Eddard did not dwell on that. The madman he had come to overthrow lay at the Lannister's feet, looking like a weak old man, though he was younger than Ned's father had been. The knight that was supposed to protect the king had killed him instead, just as the ones in Lord Tywin's employ who were sacking this city at the moment. The thought of the people of the city being ravaged for what little they had pulled him out of his reverie. Lannister's son is proud of what he had done, Ned could see. He was likely waiting for Ned's appreciation for turning his cloak. The Lord of Winterfell would not give it to him so neither did Ned.
"Step away from the Iron Throne, Ser Jaime. Surrender your sword in the name of Robert the First of His Name, King of the Seven Kingdoms."
Lannister gave an easy smile and threw his sword from the throne, descending the steps he should not have risen to. The sword clattering on the ground was the only sound in the room till Tywin Lannister's son spoke. "Worry not, Stark. I was only keeping the seat warm for our Good King Robert."
"Where is Lord Tywin?" Ned asked the Lannister soldiers standing about. Receiving no answer, he turned to his own men. "Command him to stop the bloodshed against the people of this city and submit himself to the authority of King Robert Baratheon. Take Ser Jaime and keep him in the White Sword Tower. Leave ten men there for his protection—"
"If I am to be stored away like a pickle in a jar, at least send fifteen men to keep me prisoner," the Lannister interrupted, twisting his head to the side. "Makes for more of a challenge."
Ned ignored him and nodded at Martyn Cassel, the captain of his household guard, who went to follow his orders. Lannister yielded himself to Ned's guards and seemed almost relieved to be able to go to his residence in the Red Keep, even guarded. Is he so tired by killing a defenceless old man he was sworn to protect? Ned thought darkly. Then set about setting this city back to rights, even as the Lannisters continued to ravage it, with no one to stop them. The lion does not stir till he smells the meat.
By the time Robert and Jon arrived a few days later with the rest of the army, Ned had managed to stop the fires and the soldiers. The city was still ravaged, its people still terrorized but even the Old Gods wouldn't be able to restore the city as it used to be. As the smell of blood and smoke receded from the city, the smell of shit remained. Lord Wyman noticed his expression as they stood near a window overlooking the city, waiting for Robert's banners to be spotted and tried to help.
"The city has smelt the same way for years, my lord. You have done all you could to prepare the place for the King's arrival," Ned nodded at that, too tired to resist the comfort his bannerman provided with his words. Lord Manderly grasped Ned's wish to be alone and spoke in the direction of a newcomer. "Ah, Ser Bartimos." The Lord of White Harbour gave him a short but respectful bow before joining the knight. Ned vaguely recognized the man as being the one who'd saved Lord Manderly's life. Apparently, Lord Wyman had taken him as part of his personal household as a reward.
When Robert and Jon arrived, Ned led them directly to the throne room, gauging that Robert would need to deal with Tywin Lannister as soon as possible in his authority as king. For the past few days, Stark and Lannister had lived in an uneasy truce in the city, waiting for the king the former had fought for and the latter had killed for. Sitting atop the Iron Throne, Robert looked as fearsome as the dragon skulls he was surrounded with as he was properly proclaimed King of the Andals, the Roynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm. Jon Arryn, in his capacity as Lord of the Vale, swore fealty to Robert that he had already given. Next came Hoster Tully of the Riverlands and Eddard Stark of the North. The man who followed Ned made his teeth itch as he swore fealty without caring to fight for either side. Lord Tywin Lannister arose from bended knee and gestured his soldiers to bring forth something and lay it in front of the king.
It was only months of warfare that ensured Ned did not empty out the contents of his stomach. Forms twisted almost beyond recognition on the ground, rested the bodies of Elia Martell and her children, wrapped in Lannister cloaks. Lannister messengers had told him the Princess and her children were captured by the soldiers but had failed to mention what state they were in. Intentionally so. He could see the little girl, Rhaenys' dark hair tumbling out from the cloth she was wrapped in.
He remembered suddenly, an old memory of the Tourney of Harrenhal: Prince Lewyn Martell and Princess Elia had been chasing after Rhaenys as she ran in the godswood there. "You'll ruin your hair," the Princess had said warningly, despairing as she was unable to catch the swift little girl. "It never stays down in any style you and your ladies do, Princess. Our little sun is too wild for that," the Kingsguard had remarked, as the little Princess laughed.
The Dornish Princess' fingers were curled out from under the cloth, her nails clipped or broken. He could see nothing of the babe Aegon, only a few months old, beneath the cloth. Before he knew what he was doing, Ned strode forward, reaching the three bodies too late and too soon at the same time as Lord Tywin's cold eyes tracked him. He lifted the cloaks, one by one, and swallowed as bile rose from his throat. Rhaenys' entire abdomen was filled with uneven gashes and if Ned didn't know any better, he would have thought a savage beast had done this. He put the cloth down again, as he saw something pink, close to the child's gut, hanging out. There was something in his throat he couldn't get out. If he thought Rhaenys was hard to look at, Elia was almost unbearable. A greatsword had ripped her in half but far more terrible was the anguish on her face. She saw her children's fate, he thought, noticing the signs of her fighting desperately. She saw her daughter and son be slaughtered. Aegon's body was smaller than the Greatjon's hands and Ned hesitated before lifting his cloak. The boy had been born with silver hair and purple eyes, he'd heard. A true Targaryen. The infant's head was pink, but instead of the healthy pink of a babe's skin, there was only gore where his head had been. Someone dashed his little head against something. The child's soft hands were clenched into fists, smaller than a man's fingers, and there was blood under his nails. Ned registered this all in a moment for that was the longest he was able to look at this terrible sight. The feeling in his throat grew heavier.
They had been covered in red Lannister cloaks to cover the blood but he knew that wasn't needed. Their blood would've made the white cloak of the Kingsguard as crimson as the Lannisters' banners. Realising that Tywin Lannister had been speaking this entire time, Eddard stood.
"...unfortunately, Prince Rhaegar's children and wife were causalities in the chaos of the Sack as my soldiers attempted to take the Red Keep—"
"Killed? Your men murdered them at your command!" Ned did not realise it was his own voice that had spoken, the image of the three bodies still too fresh in his mind. Faintly, he noticed Jon Arryn pale at Eddard speaking so to a Lord Paramount but Ned paid him no mind.
"I gave no such command. You must know by now how men act when a city is sacked," Tywin said, not bothering to turn to even face him.
"A lord must control his men. If you cannot do that, Lannister, you are as guilty of the crime as your men!" Eddard would've beaten the man if he wasn't surrounded by his soldiers, consequences be damned.
This time the Lannister turned, looking down at him coolly. "I was rather engaged taking the capital of the Mad King in the name of King Robert."
"Though treachery! You took this city through treachery and cowardice, as your son killed the defenceless king he had sworn to protect. Then you unleashed your dogs upon the people of this city, burning and destroying half of it in the process."
"Our means were bloody but the results speak for themselves," the older man said, gesturing to the throne room and the corpses.
"Those results are dead children! You murdered two children in front of their defenceless mother! Before killing her as well—"
The Lord of Casterly Rock interrupted him, his tone colder than the Wall. "I have committed no murder. This is war, Lord Stark."
"Killing without cause is murder. If not murder, tell me what was their crime? Being the children of a madman? Being Targaryens? A child does not pay for the sins of their father," Ned cried out.
"ENOUGH!" Robert's voice boomed like the thunder his homeland was famous for. "Ned, you will leave Lord Lannister alone in this. He has committed no crime."
"He killed children, Robert. Justice demands—" Ned pleaded his friend for justice. That's what we have been fighting for.
Robert had managed to not look at the corpses even once during this exchange and he completely turned his head away now. "I see no children. Only dragonspawn."
Jon quickly gestured the men to take the cloaked bodies away but Ned's attention was on the words of his friend. His king.
"If we kill innocents, then we are no better than the Mad King" Ned had spoken the words quietly but they rang in the hall. Before anyone could stop him, he turned his back on the man on the Iron Throne and walked away. Robert has just sat on the throne and he's already changed, Ned mused, as each of his thoughts got darker than the last.