Hello to all, happy you came to read this chapter.
Chapter 49: The Time Will Come When You Are Safe and Happy
Mya
Mya felt a chill, couldn't believe that it is colder here than atop the Eyrie or anywhere within the Vale.
She had sent one ship ahead of her fleet, to let Lord Wyman Manderly get his port prepared for her ships and army's arrival. What she didn't count on was that there was already a fleet of forty ships at anchor.
Immediately she noticed the Stark direwolf on a few, and the star of House Dayne and then the Merman on House Manderly but the rest were that of the Greyjoy Kraken and she was then weary for a moment before remembering that Jon said they were allied with the last of Balon's children.
Preparing her horse and thirty guards, she informed Donnel and Andar to get their forces ready and begin moving to Winterfell while she went on ahead of them.
Suffice to say, she didn't get far before a summonses came from Lord Manderly.
She remembered the man's sons, fighting beside them in a number of battles and skirmishes within the Riverlands and Westerlands. Wendel, his Lordship's second son was at the Twins when Roose and Walder betrayed them, Wylis and a few others are still prisoners at the Red Keep which meant Marlon- Wyman's cousin will be heir if Wylis dies.
As she neared the keep she spotted Wyman and one of his granddaughters on a horse, and a woman who bore the Greyjoy sigil too. Behind them is two carts f what she assumed was food or weapons.
"Lady Stark, it is a pleasure to meet you, at last." Wyman greeted and before she could answer, the other woman answered.
"She's not a Stark, not anymore. Mya is a Queen in her own right, now." She sensed a bit of sarcasm and pride in her voice. And Wyman's granddaughter didn't acknowledge her which gave her an impression of what she's going to get at Winterfell.
Before her reawakening at the Twins, she was the wife to the King in the North and a proud warrior respected by the men she led. If she had died, there is the chance she would be known widely as great but now...
She's the wife who abandoned her husband, an ambitious Bastard, and an unfortunate credit to her baseborn status that stole the Vale from the Warden of the East.
"So, you might have been Queen in the North?" She turned, reminded that Lord Wyman, Lady Wylla, and the woman named Asha Greyjoy had been waiting to join her army with some 600 Manderly and Ironborn raiders. "I honestly expected you to be hairier, bigger than your father but not beautiful." Beautiful? The word made her nervous.
"And how long have you and Arthur been lying together?" She answered her with a question of her own, and Asha didn't bother trying to lie and say she and her husband weren't together.
"Not for long, he put a stop to it when he married Val, I think you'll like her- Or dislike her, knowing how happy she's made Arthur." She gritted her teeth, not interested in hearing anymore.
For several quiet hours the force rode, the deeper they went the thicker the snow became as the White Knife was frozen over. she was pulling her furs to cover her face and give her warmth, then saw before the castle of Winterfell, then Wyman blew the horn that announced their arrival.
Wylla, finally willing to look her in the eyes spoke, "Welcome home, Lady 'Stark'." She took a deep breath to calm down and marched her horse forward up the road and saw trenches, stockades, watchtowers, and trebuchets facing North.
Could it be true, how dangerous this threat is that Jon described to her at the Eyrie?
Beric coughed, she gave him a worried stare and he nodded. "I'm quite well, your grace." She is worried, as Beric along with Thoros and Sandor had become her unofficial Kingsguard since they took over the Vale from the corrupt Lords using Robert as a puppet.
"I fuckin hate the North, too damned cold," Sandor commented, she huffed and almost agreed with him except for the fact that the cold she is referring to isn't the wind but the greeting she's no doubt going to suffer as they get settled in Winterfell.
She pushed past the sentries and the gate, entering the yard, and nearly froze still upon seeing Arthur and he was beside his new wife, Val Stark. She gulped down the nerves telling her to run, forcing herself to dismount and she walked slowly up to the Dread Wolf who gave her the coldest of looks.
Manderly saved her, speaking to his King first. "King Arthur, I brought you an additional company of soldiers, and more food for the men plus a shipment of dragonglass from House Stane." Arthur took his eye off her, thanking the man for his aid.
Donnel and Andar joined her with the other seven Lords who joined her force to fight in the North, it was then that Arthur spoke.
"You all wonder why we must fight North, I will show you." She and her vassals followed Arthur to the kennels where a cover cage was and he ripped it off to reveal what it held.
It was monstrous, something out of the stories she's heard too much from her father when he was in his cups. "This is a wight, a minion used by the Night King... A White Walker," Arthur paused for a second, the creature thrashed and looked at them hungrily. "Valyrian steel, Dragonglass, or Fire will kill it and nothing else. This is what you all come to fight, and we must beat it."
Once it was covered back up, they all exited the kennels and Arthur stopped her by the hand. "If you want to talk, follow me." Val didn't approve, walking back to the great hall while she followed her former husband back to the keep and up a set of stairs which brought her to the study or war room as it looked like.
Sighing, she braced for the conversation she is going to have.
Arthur
Every second was tense, he was surprised that he was able to keep it together long enough to tell the Vale Lords about the threat.
Hells, even staring at her was like a knife right into his heart. She looked so beautiful, hair is long again as it was the first day they met at the Red Keep when he and his family first arrived in the city.
And when he touched her, it sent a bad feeling through his body that wanted to just walk away and never look her way.
Yet he told her to come and talk, to get past this uncomfortable day and move on with his preparations for war. She closed the door to the war room, resting her back against it as he poured them both some goat's milk ale, a brew Tormund's got him addicted to.
She took it and nearly coughed it back up on the table, he wanted to laugh but he forced it down and just looked at her.
"I don't know what to say, Arthur." That's right, what can a spouse say to another after they abandoned the other's side.
"A simple sorry goes a long way? No, no simple request for forgiveness can make the weeks I've mourned you, cried for you, I had whatever it was buried in the crypt dug out and thrown to the wight when I returned." She was a little hurt, and, a little understandable to his feelings.
He nearly drove a sword through the rest of House Frey for their neglect for Mya's passing, even would have killed Olyvar who he made the new Lord of the Crossing and tore down those damned towers with the exception of the bridge.
"I wanted to come back to you, but our child was killed by House Lannister, by Tywin and I wanted their blood for our baby." And then what? She didn't succeed and then remarried to his sibling's cousin to take the Vale.
"And what was the point of taking the Vale, and fucking some sickly Lordling- " Mya slammed her cup down and slapped him across the face, he felt the sting and one of her nails had even cut his skin which made him bleed.
"I was raped, thrice before I decided to plan my way forward! Harrold took Robert's place and dug in deep, all the while I thought of you and our son who was murdered before he was even born!" She shouted, tears falling down her face. "I love you, I still love you but you, you remarried and now your wife is with child." And she wants vengeance for hers, she wants justice for her family and for her father.
Gods he is cruel, too caught up in his own anger to see the pain in her own.
Like a moth to a flame, he reached and caressed her cheek, remembering how soft it is and she leaned in and they both nearly embraced before she pushed him back which left him confused.
He married Val, the wild woman who has made him very happy in these last several months. She's his Queen, but so is Mya.
"Mya... " He whispered and she shook her head, then raised it high to look proud whilst tears fell from both his and her face.
"You are married, King Arthur, Val looks very courageous and beautiful. She will give you strong son, unless you've gotten Asha Greyjoy with a child as well." It was then that he chuckled, laughing and cursing that she knows about his moments with Theon's sister.
Mya left to go ask Sansa for a room within the castle, all the while he was left in the war room alone until it opened and his wife walked inside and eyed him curiously, then eyed his pants before shaking her head.
"Do you want her more than me?" In fact, he wished he could have them both but he's too Northern for that despite his Dornish blood.
Walking over he took Val by the cheeks and kissed her upon the lips, placing a hand on her belly which seems to be growing with every day. She smiled and pushed into the passion but he stopped, but she didn't and instead made him follow her back to their chambers where they made love but when he closed his eyes, all he saw was Mya and how much she suffered on her own.
It was midnight when he was awoken by Maester Wolken, "Apologies, your grace. A raven from the Twins." He got up and he unrolled the scroll and was shocked by the information.
The message was from Arya, reporting that a Lannister host marched on the Tarly held castle of Maidenpool. House Tarly has left with the Lannister host back to King's Landing, for what purpose, whose to say but he couldn't help but be worried.
Reading further, the scroll said that Riverrun can spar no more than four thousand to fight the dead which disappointed him but there is still Daenerys Targaryen to consider as an ally against the dead.
Arya also said she will be at the Neck by the time the raven arrives and will be home soon.
"Wolkan." He called and the man stood at attention, "Tell Rickard to ready me a hundred men, I wish to meet my sister at Moat Cailin." Wolkan nodded and left to see that it was done, only after he was alone with the exception of a sleeping Val did he dress for the journey, strapping Ice on his back.
He met Lord Karstark at the stables, then rode out and sided by the men began making their way to Moat Cailin.
Arya
Gods, she was tired.
Greatjon was helping the small host of soldiers her uncle Edmure loaned them for their war, uncle Brynden joined their force as well to command them in the fighting.
She tried for more, begged for their full support but what with the Lannister's moving suspiciously, her uncle couldn't afford to leave the Riverlands completely undefended so she just took what was offered and hoped Arthur would be happy.
They reached Moat Cailin at midnight, the commander of the fort offered them a night of rest but she would rather lay in hay than sleep in a swampy fortress, not because of the swamp itself but the lizard lions that roam about the waters.
"Should be home soon, pup." She's also getting tired of hearing that, she's killed men for Old God's sake.
"How would you like it if I called you a giant, because you aren't." She snapped and instead of being insulted, the Lord of Last Hearth laughed heartily with his two guardsmen and several others around.
Eventually, even she joined them in the revelry as they returned home.
She was about to speak before an object hit one of the riders sitting beside Greatjon Umber, she saw it was a fire arrow and the man fell from his horse and onto the ground.
Hundreds of other arrows followed suit, all lighting the Moat on fire and she panicked and her horse got hit in the eye which made him fall and throw her from her seat.
One side of her face was caked in mud, she stumbled a bit while climbing the battlements to see what was going on and was shocked to see who was attacking her home for the second time. She snarled and unsheathed Needle, seeing the small fleet coming toward them in rowboats.
It was bloody, Greatjon and her uncle Brynden brought back hundreds to form a defense against the invading army that has decided to try and attack them.
She was injured by an ax, slicing her belly and she fell from the battlements and through a tent top. Her eyes expressed fear at seeing a man with an eye patch, and a dead Greatjon not far away who fell after having seven swords in his body.
Her uncle was still atop the walls, battling two raiders while everyone else was trying to defend the fort and put the fires out that has started to consume even bodies. Footsteps could be made out and before long, a shape stood above her.
"Ah Ah Ah, I see I've caught a wolf. And a Stark wolf at that." She saw nothing before she was knocked out, and the battle ceased as the fleet force retreated back out the Fever.
Arthur roared and tried to follow the ship as fast as he could, worry and panic rising as he knew who was on that ship and who had taken his blood.
"Arya!" He yelled and his horse stopped as they passed the Saltspear.
His sister was gone, and the pressure on his chest caused him to fall from his horse and on the cold snow.
All he could think of was tearing Euron to pieces, ripping his other eye out, and feeding it to his direwolf. He blacked out, letting consciousness leave him until he was out cold.
AN: Mad reviews incoming, as she said in earlier chapters, Euron isn't one to take slightly and now he has Arya Stark, and Greatjon Umber is dead.