The Princesses War

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AN: I'm sorry about this being a few days late but this chapter needed a major rewrite before publication and I hope you will enjoy it.

Chapter Seven

Son of the North

Ned sat on his horse, with him was "Great Jon" Umbar and Blackfish, and together they watched their soldiers carrying out combat drills. The rifles he had bought before the war gave them an advantage over the Lannister's but they were cumbersome in hand to hand combat. Therefore, Ned found that he would have to get creative to fight the next battle in the war. The five hundred riflemen he was watching were also in position with two hundred and fifty pikemen, just behind them, each one carrying a twelve foot long pike.

'Present!' the captain of the unit ordered and his riflemen aimed their weapons at the targets set up about eighty meters away from them. 'Take aim! Fire!'

All of the riflemen fired at the same time, breaking away from the usual command to begin volley fire. Ned grinned slightly when he saw the large targets, made from scarecrows, being torn to shreds by the lethal hailstorm of bullets thrown at them.

'Charge!' the captain ordered and the men, large bayonets fixed and pikes lowered, as they rushed at full pace towards the targets, quickly knocking down the few which were still standing.

'They're good lads,' Umber said with a laugh. 'Still, why don't the riflemen just fight the way their instructors taught them?'

'The instructors were Farosi,' he answered him. 'No doubt that Princess Radwen would know that and they will expect us to fight like them.'

'So by fighting differently we can take them by surprise,' Blackfish concluded. 'For a while anyway.'

'Yes that's right. This war is going to be different than the others we have fought. We need to fight with our brains as much as our strength.'

'We need to close in quickly with the Farosi to use this tactic,' Blackfish stated as they watched the men reform back into their original formation.

'That's right. With the pikemen it gives our riflemen a better defence against cavalry and, and I trust the men but they can't keep up with the Farosi rate of fire.'

'When we face the Farosi we'll fight them on rough ground then,' said Umber. 'The longer our lads can stay out of enemy fire the better.'

'My thinking as well. Still, we don't need to worry about them yet but we soon will. King Renly is getting ready to take back Oldtown as we speak, or at least I hope he is.'

'Oldtown falling, I still can't believe it,' said Blackfish.

'Neither can I,' Ned agreed with him. 'Two of Westeros's most important cities in Farosi hands, it gives them a massive advantage.'

'When we've dealt with the Lannister's we'll take back the capital,' the Greatjon declared with a confident grin.

'I don't want to face Lord Tywin in a siege,' Ned told the huge man. 'At Harrenhal he could hold out as long as his supplies last.'

'We need to draw him out. From what I know of the man I don't think he'll hide behind Harrenhal's walls.'

'Exactly. He's We march at dawn, let's hope the army is ready for it.'

'We defeated the King Slayer,' Greatjon said in his usual growl. 'We have victory in our hearts and now we can take Tywin Lannister himself!'

Ned nodded and then pulled his horse away and started riding towards his tent where he could hopefully get some rest before his afternoon meeting with his officers. In his head he looked over the weeks since his flight from Kings Landing. He rode with Renly for a while before he parted company with him at Bitterbridge and then riding as hard and fast as he could across the countryside with his retainers until they reached the Riverlands and there he took command of the combined forces of the North and the Tully's had assembled and finally learned all of the details of what his son had been doing from both Robb and Catt. While he disagreed with Robb agreeing to marry Lord Walder's daughter, he'd have rather tried to form a better marriage further along, he did understand why so he had made it adamant that they would honour that agreement. He was also impressed by his sons' victory in what had already been named "The Field of Smoke", crushing the Kingslayer's army and relieving Riverrun. Over the past two weeks he had been all over the Riverland's, gathering strength from the river lords who had been scattered by Lord Tywin's attack at the start of the war and using them to assemble a powerful army. Six thousand men were located at the western edges of the Riverland's along the passes leading to the Westerlands. Their job was to keep Lannister reinforcements in their own territory, Edmure Tully had been given command of that mission, while the rest, coming to thirty five thousand, were camped with him at Stone Hedge, ready to move on Tywin Lannister. Ned had also sent five hundred men to Moat Cailin to keep the position fortified in case they needed to retreat north. He hoped they wouldn't have to but it was always wise to be cautious.

He knew that Tywin wouldn't settle for a siege. While Harrenhal was still a powerful castle, with a good supply of water, it was not stocked for a siege, and Tywin's large army needed to move if it was to survive. If he could defeat Tywin then it would be King's Landing next.

Of course, when he thought of that awful city he thought of two things, the wider war and Jon. As for the wider war, it all depended on Renly and Ned wasn't there to keep him under control. During the Rebellion, Robert had Ned and Jon Arryn there with him to, if not control his rage and passions, then to at least handle them and direct them in the right wat of winning the war. He needed to be there to keep Renly focused but instead he had Mace Tyrell, little more than a puppet of the Queen of Thorns, and Randyll Tarly, a great warrior and commander, but one who had never even seen the Farosi in battle until recently. He had spoken with Tarly when he was with Renly, he found that while he didn't like the man he certainly respected his abilities.

Ned fought alongside the Farosi at the Siege of Pyke, the force they sent to help in that war proved themselves well, King Lukon himself fighting sword in hand alongside his Royal Guard who cut down rank after rank of Ironborn with their rifles before giving them a taste of the "cold steel" of the bayonet. Ned had bought Farosi books on warfare and he saw in them just how ready for war they are, a massive army supported by professional engineers, healers and supply officers commanded by generals who went through years of training instead of receiving those positions by an accident of birth. Any fight against them would be hard and Renly just didn't understand it. He just saw the numbers, the army he had mustered near Highgarden had was so large that their cavalry force alone outnumbered the entire Farosi army. The only way to fight them was with intelligence and cunning and then, maybe, they could drive the Farosi from Westeros.

On top of all that there was still no word from potential allies within the city, and most importantly, no word from Jon. Jon, the thought of the boy he had raised as his son, who had become a man in Farsos, and who now knew the truth of his birth, filled him with regret. He had asked him to spy on people who he had come to trust and respect, putting him in danger, trapping him in a city with a man like Colonel Donnah. He remembers Varys's story of what the Military Police Officer, Colonel Donnah, had done to the spies who had entered the Embassy and he had asked Jon to be a spy. Ned truly hoped that Lyanna would forgive him. Looking back, it was a stupid idea; he shouldn't have done it, for both of their sakes. They should have all fled the city together but now Jon was stuck there. Worse, he believed that Jon may have true feelings for Princess Radwen and such feelings can make a man do incredible things.

For a moment Ned smiled at the memory of Ashara Dayne, if he had been able to he would have married her. He loved her, he wanted her but then the rebellion happened and that was impossible. His wedding to Catt was needed to win the war so he had to marry her but thankfully he had found love with her. He wondered what would have happened if things had turned out differently, but he stopped that line of thought. It would do no one any good and it didn't matter. However, if Jon and Radwen grew closer it would force the young man to make a choice like the one Ned himself had made. While Jon had been raised as his son he truly was a child of Lyanna at heart, that was why he was so eager to go to Farsos in the first place. He had suggested it to him once and after that it was impossible for the boy to think of anything else. Now if he chose his heart over his duty, as Lyanna did, the results would be a Farosi claim to the throne potentially stronger than Renly's.

As he came close to his tent he dismounted his horse and was about to enter it when he saw a young man wearing the livery of House Bracken who owned Stone Hedge, running towards him with a small piece of paper, probably from a raven, in hand.

'Lord Stark,' he said, gasping as he did so. 'Lord Stark, this was sent by raven from Flint's Finger.'

Ned took the message and after reading it he felt his eyes growing wider with every word. He had to read it again and then one more time before it's meaning fully sunk in.

'Find all of the commanders,' he ordered the young page. 'I need to see them now.'

'It will be done,' he responded and hurried off.

Ned looked back at the paper and thought hard on what he would do with this. Its words were few but changed everything, changed his plan for dealing with the Lannister's.

Lord Stark

Flint's Finger is under attack by Ironborn. They have firearms. Other towns sacked. Send help.

…

Jon looked at his watch, the face on it was clean and its hands moved perfectly. He had an hour until he had to perform his days inspection of his troopers, so he had just enough time to do what he had to do. He was engaged to Princess Radwen, he was the commander of a troop of fine men and a respected officer yet, even then, he was still alone in this city. He had no way of contacting his father and he had no idea how to even establish a spy ring, especially under the watch of Colonel Donnah. More than that, he just needed someone to talk to about the truth of his father. While he still thought of Lord Stark as his father, Jon was still trying to understand what it meant to have the blood of the dragon. His blood held that of King Aegon the Conqueror, the great dragon riders who brought their house to ruin in the Dance of the Dragons and of the Mad King himself. Since that night where Lord Stark and the others had fled the city Jon had believed that there was no one who could understand him, who could keep his secret but then, he realised at last, that he was wrong. There was one who he could talk to and he was still in the Red Keep. Jon reached the man's room. There were no guards outside of it, he wasn't seen as a threat, and Jon was grateful that it meant no one could see him going to speak with the man.

Looking along the corridor to see it was empty, Jon knocked on the door and waited for a few moments until a voice answered.

'Enter.'

He opened the door and stepped in to see a neat room, a table which several people could sit at, several comfortable chairs and occupying one of them was Ser Barristan Selmy. On the day the princess seized power he had taken several bullets defending Joffrey but he had survived, although he would never be able to walk without a cane again.

'Ser Barristan,' Jon said to him formally.

'Lieutenant,' he answered, putting down the book he had been reading. His tone was formal but he could sense frustration under it. 'Does the princess wish to see me?'

'No she doesn't. I've come here to talk with you.'

'If you want,' was his response and gestured at one of the chairs.

When Jon sat down in it he tried to work out where to start, it was a lot to bring up to him out of nowhere.

'How well are you recovering?' he asked, starting with something normal.

'My leg still hurts,' he answered. 'How can I guard a king when I can't walk without a cane?'

'I'm sorry, Ser Barristan. When we, when me and my men went up to the galleries of the throne room, I wished that you weren't down there.'

'You really are your father's son.'

'You would know.'

'Lord Stark is a good man. During the tourney King Robert held in his honour,' he rolled his eyes at that, Jon knew why, Ned Stark did not want that waste of money.

'I remember, he went to Princess Radwen to ask her to persuade the King to stop it.'

'What did she say to that?'

'That it was a waste of time.'

'She was probably right as well.'

Now was the time to bring it up.

'There was something I wanted to ask you, Ser.'

'Of course. What is it?'

'Well, I'm not really asking you anything. I just, I have something I need to tell you.'

'Then go on.'

'My father, he's an honourable man but he lied.'

'Ned Stark lied?'

'He did. He did it for a good reason though. To protect the people, he loved.'

'I suppose that lies can be justified if he had no choice. What was it then?'

'Lyanna Stark.'

And so he told the old man. The old man who had known Rhaegar, who had fought with him, had seen him grow up now learned his final secret. When Jon finished his story he realised he hadn't actually been looking at Ser Barristan through any of it, instead staring just past the old mans shoulder. Now finished he slowly turned his gaze on the old knight, his expression now made up of a mix between shock and, for some reason, understanding.

'It makes sense,' he said after a few moments of silence so thick that it felt like a lifetime.

'How? How does it make sense?'

'Rheagar would never rape a woman, he would never kidnap a woman, he would never even harm a woman. Once he broke a mans wrist when training and he rushed him to a Maester himself. A lot makes sense now. Before the Battle of the Trident Prince Rheagar came to me and said that he would not kill Lord Stark, he refused to do it. He didn't say why but he claimed that he would need to talk to him after the battle. Knowing what I do now, I think that your father wanted to win Lord Stark's support to help depose Aerys.'

'I wish things had been different.'

'So do I. Jon, Jaehaerys, you would have been raised a prince. I would have probably trained you at arms myself and right now your father would be on the Iron Throne.'

'It feels wrong, being called Jaehaerys, I mean. Who am I really?'

'I don't know who you are, Jon. The point is, you must decide who you are? But I will tell you this, if you are the trueborn son of Rheagar, than I follow you now, my king. If you wed the Princess Radwen, then she will truly have a right to call herself a queen of Westeros.'

'Thank you, Ser Barristan. I have to go now, duty calls.'

'It does. Whatever you decide to do, good luck, Your Grace.'

Whatever I do, Jon thought to himself. He had to decide who he would be, an officer, a spy or a king.

AN: And the Ironborn enter the war, armed and ready, will they topple the Northern army and crush Ned's plans? Jon finds an ally in the south and the war continues.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Please review and give me your thoughts. Have a great day all of you!