Chapter 6: The Stag King
When the honour guard had been spotted, everyone in Winterfell had gone absolutely mad. Where as before, the serving staff were jogging around the castle making sure all of the rooms were ready, now they were full on sprinting around the castle, making sure every little corner of the keep was immaculate.
William was now fully garbed in the Drakeblood Armour, the silver and red armour plating made him stand out from the crowd. His blood red cape was dragging behind him as he marched to get to the outside of the castle quickly before the king and the royal family arrived.
At least I finally get to meet this Robert Baratheon, whoever this great King is meant to be...
William quickly marched over to Lord Stark's left side. He could see Lady Catelyn on his right, and next to her, in order of age, the Stark Children, bar Arya.
"Where have you been, Will?" Lord Stark asked.
"I have been in my quarters, trying to get the armour to fit properly, without it digging into my sides with every single step that I take." Will replied.
"Oh, I know the feeling, you never forget the first time you get into a suit of armour. It's rough, jagged, uncomfortable, every little thing feels absolutely horrible."
"Believe me, I have never gotten used to the feeling." Will murmured quietly.
As soon as Will had finished his sentence, the first few horses of the honour guard had began to enter the courtyard. The flags they carried were either red with a golden lion, or black with a golden crowned stag. Lord Stark had explained to him previously that these were the sigils of House Lannister and House Baratheon respectively, and that each house had there own sigil.
Then there were the men dressed in golden armour, with odd shaped helmets on their heads. Will had noticed that there were only seven of them, and guessed that they would be the King's personal guard.
Soon after, was a gallant looking blonde haired man dressed in the same armour as the Kingsguard. Behind him was the largest carriage William had ever seen in all of his lives. It had giant wheels carrying it, and the outside was decorated in ornate golden lions and stags. Will guessed that it was the carriage for the royal family.
Behind the carriage entered a small blonde boy, with emerald green eyes riding on atop a blood-coloured horse, with an even larger man behind him, dressed in grey steel armour, his helm shaped like a hound. The boy had the smuggest look on his face Will had ever seen, and was looking at Sansa like she was a piece of meat. He could see that Robb had noticed it too, and was staring at the boy, who must have been the prince.
If it looks like a cunt, and sounds like a cunt, then it is probably a cunt, and he definitely looks like a cunt...
Last but not least was the largest man Will had seen since he had arrived in Winterfell. He had long black hair, and massive beard too, which were hiding his multiple chins He wore black leather with a noticeable golden trim and thick black bear pelt as his cape. Beside him were two more men dressed in the golden armour, and nobody else followed the king that William could see.
Everyone knelt quickly, and William quickly followed suite, and a squire quickly brought some steps to the large fat man, and quickly ran off, allowing the king to get off his horse without any help, it pained William not to laugh at the large man, who seemed to be trying extremely hard to get off of the horse. He kept in his laughter and watched as an elegant woman with golden hair and beautiful green eyes stepped out of the carriage, with a small girl and boy following right after her, looking around at their new location.
Wow, is this everyone? I was expecting more people to be honest, and where is the King?
The large man marched over to Lord Stark with a grimace on his face, which also happened to be beet red because of the cold.
"Ned, rise." The man ordered.
Lord Stark knelt, and the two men proceeded to stare at each other for what felt like forever, even looking up and down at each other as if they were trying to remember what used to be there.
"You've gotten fat." The man stated.
Lord Stark raised an eyebrow, and it took every part of William to not burst out laughing at the irony. Lord Stark never said a word, but pointed his head at the large stomach of the man in front of him. More silence overtook the courtyard before the large man guffawed something fierce, guffawing even louder than Siegward of Catarina, the Knight of Onions as William liked to call him.
"Oh, Ned, nine long years... what have you been doing for those nine years, Ned?"
"Guarding the North for you, Your Grace."
Your Grace? This? This is the King? The Great Robert Baratheon? The man who destroyed the Targaryen Dynasty? Wow...
"Ah, I see. And who is this young man next to you?" Robert asked, looking at William.
"This is Sir William..." Eddard trailed off, not knowing Will's full name.
"Sir William Redding, Your Grace."
"And what do you do here, Sir William Redding?" Robert asked again.
"I offer council to Lord Eddard, and also serve as Lady Sansa's sworn shield." William replied.
"I see, and is he loyal, Ned?"
"Loyal to a fault, Robert. I wish all of my men were like him."
Robert patted William's shoulder and marched off to meet the rest of the Stark family, and soon after he was done, the elegant golden-haired woman made her presence known. Lord Stark bowed quickly and kissed her hand.
"Queen Cersei, it is an pleasure to see you once more."
"The pleasure is all mine, Lord Stark." Queen Cersei replied quickly, before looking at William up and down with those piercing emerald green eyes before marching in front of him.
That dress makes her breasts look fucking massive...
William avoided looking at her chest area to keep his self-respect and to keep himself from thinking about it even more, when Cersei offered her hand to William, he quickly took it and gave it a quick kiss.
She smells like lavender...
"My Queen, it is an honour to finally meet you. I have heard many tales of your beauty, but they don't do you justice at all."
"Again, the pleasure is all mine, what is your name, good ser?" Cersei asked with a polite smile on her face.
William, I swear if you fall for the Queen because she smiled for you, don't think your special, she's married to the king...
"William Redding, My Queen."
"What a lovely name. You seem to be a polite young man, I hope to spend some more time with you."
"Of course, My Queen, it would be an honour."
By the time he had finished, Queen Cersei had walked off to meet the rest of the Starks.
William, please get a hold of yourself, get a grip, don't let your cock lead you astray, if you do that, we will never find Annalise, that is what we should be focusing on, finding our Keeper, not playing around with Kings and Queens. We need to find Annalise...
As soon as the procession had left the courtyard, William ran off to the Winterfell library, and tried to find as much information he could on the different locations where Annalise could possibly be before he ran off back to his quarters.
Dorne, The Reach, The Iron Islands, Essos, Slaver's Bay, Sothoryos, The Summer Islands, Braavos, Qohor, Qarth, she could be fucking anywhere!
William got out of his armour and into some finer underclothes, the clothes he would wear if he were going to a ball in Astora. A black leather tunic and trousers with a red trim that seemed very noticeable. Will felt naked, he wished he could be in his armour, but he knew it wasn't proper Astoran etiquette if he were to do it.
But William, you are not in Astora anymore, this is Westoros...
William hated being talked down to in his head, he hated himself when it happened. He felt like a child, he was a knight of Astora, he was a grown man, he should know he shouldn't be getting distracted by the Queen, he should be looking for Annalise, not having a feast with people he barely knew.
Who cares about Annalise? She's probably dead, taken by the First Flame, you are probably alone here...
NO! SHE IS NOT DEAD, I CAN FEEL IT, I KNOW SHE IS ALIVE!
Will sat down on his bed, and sighed. He needed someone to talk to, someone who knew what he was going through, someone who knew what he had been through, he needed Annalise, he needed his Fire Keeper.
Ooooh? Your Fire Keeper? Since when did you get so possessive, William?
"Get a grip, William. Get a hold of yourself, breathe in, breathe out, think about a plan, how are we going to travel? How do we cross the Narrow Sea? How do we find Annalise?"
William looked at himself in the mirror, and he could tell he had changed since Lothric. He never fought against himself, he was always dead-set on what he needed to do, he just needed guidance when he lost his way. Annalise was guiding him when he lost himself on the path to find Aldrich, and now he had lost himself again, and he needed guidance, and he had nobody to guide him.
Go with the Royal Family when they return to wherever they came from! Go to a port, get a map, and go to wherever you want to go!
"Sir Will, you need to hurry, the feast is about to begin!"
"Ok, I will be out in a minute."
William threw of the overcoat of his outfit and let out a mighty sigh.
Time to have a bit of time to myself, I might as well get myself drunk one last time before I set off on my journey...
