It's been a while. I should have uploaded this chapter long ago. There are six more chapters to come immediately after that should be uploaded tomorrow if I have time, by the end of the week at worst.
JON X
Before their eyes, the army of Stannis Baratheon, the might of the Stormlands and the Crownlands united. Behind their back, the forces of House Tully and House Stark, the power of the North and the Riverlands. Between them, on their left, the city of King's Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, the center of a Realm the North decided to leave last night, a decision that was accepted if not approved by the Riverlands.
Following the declaration of Robb as their king by the northern lords, a very long discussion took place with the Blackfish. His brother Hoster Tully was not present, nor his presumptive heir Edmure Tully. None of them had acknowledged Robb as a king. However, the river lords who were present hailed Robb as their king, along with his own bannermen. And the river lords who were present had significant power in the Riverlands. A raven had left this very night for Riverrun, but they would need a few days before a reply came. In the meantime, the Blackfish chose a middle path. While Robb sent a message to Stannis where he declared he would now be King in the North, Brynden Tully declared he would fight alongside his grandnephew if Stannis refused to acknowledge Robb in his new titles and rights. Family came first.
They didn't wait long for a reply. The knight they sent, Ser Belon, came back with a very clear order: Robb and Ser Brynden were to present themselves to the Red Keep within the hour, or else they would be branded as traitors. Robb and the Blackfish countered by proposing a meeting outside the gates of King's Landing. Robb had wanted to go in the Red Keep, to show Stannis he meant no disrespect, but the Blackfish opposed and finally convinced Robb that it would be too dangerous. Reminding Robb that Stannis probably killed his own brother was enough to convince him.
It wasn't late after they sent their reply that Stannis' army took position with the city on its right. Robb had no choice but to call his own troops to face them, and the Blackfish aligned his men by his side. My brother and I once chose to betray our king for the betrothed of Catelyn. I'll be cursed if now I choose my king over her son, the knight told them.
And now they were waiting between the two armies, Robb, Jon, Lord Umber, Lord Karstark, Lord Bolton, Lord Glover, Ser Manderly, Ser Brynden Tully, Lord Mallister and Lord Piper, their banners displaying wolves and trouts flapping to the wind. Ghost and Grey Wind were there as well. After his army was in position, Stannis sent another message that he would parley with the usurper. And now he was approaching, followed by half-a-dozen people. When they were close enough, he noticed their banners that displayed a burning heart instead of the black stag of House Baratheon. Jon had found this odd when they rode into the king's encampment the day before, but this struck him much more when he saw that one of the banners was carried by a woman.
When they stopped a few feet away, the woman was looking at Robb, but her gaze slowly turned to Jon. She wasn't young. Jon would probably say she was in the end of thirties, maybe the beginning of the forties, but she was very beautiful, beyond what Jon had ever seen. Her heart-shaped figure was without any default, her deep blue eyes like amethysts scrutinized him, her long red hair that seemed to burn like fire stood still despite the surrounding wind. And she kept looking at Jon.
She was probably the foreign priestess Lady Stark told them about. Jon had heard the tales that spread through the Riverlands that she was Stannis' lover. He didn't know if Stannis truly burned the kingswood of Storm's End, but something was giving Jon the impression that this woman had a huge influence on Stannis Baratheon. Her mere presence at this parley seemed to prove it.
"So, after traveling all this way to join your king, you finally choose to betray him, Robb Stark?" Stannis asked him. To say he was displeased was the least they could say. Jon feared the brother of Robert Baratheon might break his jaw so much he was clenching it.
Robb sustained the gaze of the king very well. Their lord father prepared Robb to be the Lord of Winterfell, and Robb worked hard so that he would fulfill this role honorably one day.
"I chose nothing, your Grace," Robb replied. He rotated his horse so he could look behind, to the lords accompanying him and to his army. Then he stared back at Stannis. "The North chose. If I made any choice, it was to follow the will of my people, and that of the lords who stand by my side today. They wanted me to be their king, and I respect their wishes, and I understand them. They are far away from their homes, fighting for a king they never saw before, a king who demands that they abandon their homes. Did you expect them to love you after that?"
"I'm not asking for their love, nor for yours. I'm demanding their loyalty, that they respect their oaths of fealty. We shouldn't even be having this conversation. I am their king, as such they are bound by oath to obey me."
"And I am bound by oath to protect the North. Warden of the North, isn't it the title your brother and you bestowed to my house, as the Targaryens did for three hundred years before you? I am bound to protect the kingdom of the North, and that's why I'm his king now. I'm ready to follow you into battle, I will help to take your rightful place on the Iron Throne, but not as your bannerman."
"And you'll snatch away half my kingdom in the process."
"The North was an independent kingdom for thousands of years long before you were born, long before your brother sat on the Iron Throne, and long before my ancestors knelt before Aegon Targaryen. We will continue to be an independent kingdom long after you are gone, your Grace."
As the discussion progressed, Robb's tone turned sourer and more hostile, losing the respect he tried to show Stannis. In the meantime, the Red Priestess kept staring at Jon. He felt quite uneasy under her gaze.
"Ser Brynden," Stannis addressed the Blackfish, "do you agree with this?"
The veteran knight looked to Robb, then back to the king, a bored expression on his face. "I don't approve it, but it's not my place to decide. What I have to decide is whether I let you kill my family or not, and that I cannot let you do it. If Robb Stark declares himself King in the North and you fight him, then you'll have to get through me first."
"So you're betraying your king."
"My brother rebelled against a king long before because he killed the man who was supposed to marry his daughter. My brother may be ill, but I know he would not hesitate to turn against his king for her son."
"This is madness!" the words came from a man between two ages who stood not far behind Stannis. Jon didn't know who he was, but he certainly didn't have the look of a noble man. "Don't you see that it is exactly what the Lannisters want? They want us to tear us apart, to kill each other so they can grab the pieces and rule over the ruins once we're done destroying ourselves. To divide is the worst thing we could do right now. We need a military commander to bring the Lannisters and their allies on their knees, and only Stannis can do that while defeating the Ironborn at the same time. Don't you see this is foolishness to rebel against him? You won't even be able to deal with the Ironborn if you do that. You have no fleet to attack their islands, you need the help of the other kingdoms, and only Stannis can provide you this help."
"We don't need help from southerners," the Greatjon declared. "We're capable of defending our borders ourselves."
"You do need the help of his Grace." The priestess had a very sweet voice. It was the first time she spoke since the parley began. "Stannis is the only true king, the Lord's Chosen One. He is the only one who can defeat the coming darkness. If you don't side with him, you will all be destroyed, and that won't be his doing. Death will swarm your lands, destroy your villages, turn your people into unspeakable things. The Long Night is coming." The last sentence created some reaction among the northern lords. She looked to Jon. "Stannis is your only chance. He fights for the world of the living. If you want to fight for the side that fights for the living, then come and join him. He's the only one who can save you from the darkness that will swallow us all."
"My offer still stands," Robb said after a moment. "I am ready to ride by your side against the Lannisters with half my forces, your Grace. Only, it will as a fellow king, and not as your servant. Accept these terms, or you won't get any help from the North, ever."
A long silence followed during which Robb and Stannis eyed each other. Then all of a sudden, Jon recalled all the conversations he had since the news of his father's arrest was brought to him at Casterly Rock. He recalled the discussion he had with Tyrion Lannister and Margaery Tyrell back then, with Mira in the Riverlands, with Lady Stark at Riverrun. And again he noticed the red woman looking at him.
"I have one question for you, your Grace. Did you murder your own brother, Renly Baratheon?"
The question laid heavy in the air after Jon formulated it. The king was now looking at him, and so did most of the people for some time, before they switched their gaze to Stannis. Jon realized the man who told them it was madness to enter rebellion gasped after he asked the question, then saw him cast glances to Stannis, and also to the woman in red.
"I don't have to answer that question," the king replied.
Jon, for his part, looked to the priestess, and he wasn't affected by her gaze this time. "It was you. The shadow."
From the corner of his eyes, a movement drew his attention, and he noticed how the middle-aged man was quivering now. That was it. Lady Stark couldn't have lied to them about that.
"You truly murdered your own brother?" Robb asked to Stannis.
"I don't have to justify myself, before you even less, Stark," the king replied, angry.
"Aye, you do. My father died for you."
"He did, and now you're dishonoring him by revolting against the king he served."
"A king who let him die. Where were you when Joffrey murdered him?"
Stannis didn't reply, no more than his expression changed. This was going nowhere. The King in the North and the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms would find no common ground here to solve their disagreement. There was however one last thing Jon needed to know.
"Did you convince our father that Joffrey was a bastard so you could claim the Iron Throne for yourself?"
Stannis looked at him, obviously furious though he perfectly controlled this anger. "I don't have any answer to give to traitors. You already know the truth anyway. And still you decided to rebel against your lawful king. Count yourself lucky we are in a parley, for else I would have you executed on the spot."
"Then we were right to refuse your invitation in the Red Keep," Ser Brynden retorted.
"Robb Stark and Brynden Tully, I, Stannis of the House Baratheon, First of My Name, Rightful King of the Andals, the First Men and the Rhoynar, hereby declare you and all the men who follow you guilty of treason and sentence you to die. Prepare to meet your fate."
The king rode away.
And another battle begins.
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Next chapter : a new POV
