"You did well yesterday, much better than I had expected you would do" Ser Barristan spoke, watching Jon go through the motions of his stances and slashes.
"I still lost in the end" Jon muttered, slightly vexed at himself. In the final minutes of the melee, Jon had charged to meet Thoros head-on. They met and Jon found himself being overpowered. Thoros' sword snapped off as Jon had known it would, but not before Jon had been unhorsed.
"You had the good of it in the first half of the melee. You chose your opponents and waited for the others to pick the others off. You won't get such an opportunity on a battlefield, so I'd suggest keeping this tactic for the melee only" the Knight smiled, "had you stuck to your plan on waiting patiently, Thoros' blade would have snapped in half before you were unhorsed. You went for glory, to get the crowd to cheer for you, aye?"
"Aye," Jon nodded. He had gone for glory, but not for the reasons the aged Knight was thinking of. "I guess it was a lesson well learned."
"Do not rush when you can push your opponents to make a mistake" Ser Barristan stated and the two shared a smile. "Come, today you're sparring against the prince. It'll do him a world of good to know that those around his age can be better than him. The last thing we need is for him to learn that amid battle."
Jon consented to the spar and moved on over to where Joffrey and Tommen were practising their respective styles against straw dummies. Joffrey was wild, hacking and slashing at the thing without a single thought. Tommen on the other hand was more composed. The boy was sloppy for sure, but Jon saw the makings of a capable knight in him. He might just inherit the skills of his father one day.
"Prince Joffrey" Ser Barristan called and the boy turned around. When his eyes fell on Jon he scowled. "You two will be sparring."
"I will not fight some common bastard" Joffrey spat.
"Your father has entrusted your training to me and has given me say of how you should be trained. Pick your sword and get over here" the Knight said sternly. Joffrey did not move still and Jon had to hold back a sigh.
"If it's any consolation to you my Prince, I'm a high born bastard" Jon spoke.
"And the runner up of yesterday's melee" Ser Barristan added.
"The coward who stood back and let the others deal with each other" Joffrey spat and Jon felt a cold shiver run down his spine.
"Then maybe you should teach me, my Prince" Jon smiled a little sweetly. Joffrey looked smug at the statement while Ser Barristan had frowned at the underlying threat. Even Tommen had noticed something off there.
"Since you asked so nicely" Joffrey swaggered to the sparring ring while Jon sedately entered. Jon's eyes met with Ser Barristan's and the boy saw the caution in them. Jon gave a curt nod and the knight looked away. Ser Barristan moved to the side, Tommen being called to his side to watch the battle. Jon drew his sword once more and Joffrey stood ready to strike. When the call to begin was given, Joffrey charged.
Jon stood his ground and parried the blow when Joffrey swung. There was no power behind it, only a large swing that left too many openings to exploit.
Joffrey was surprised at how easily Jon had parried his blow. The surprise turned to anger soon and Joffrey came at him harder. The result was pretty much the same, Jon dodging and parrying his blows. The anger turned to pure rage as Joffrey's face turned red. He saw it as disrespect, that a bastard was blocking all his hits when he should have taken it as blessings for his cowardice. His rage made his swings wilder and even less effective. Seeing that, Jon decided to end the match.
Jon sidestepped the last blow, smacked Joffrey's sword hand with the flat of his blade hard enough for Joffrey to drop it and then held the tip to his throat.
"How dare you-" Joffrey sputtered, cradling the hand he was smacked on. "Do you know who I am?!"
"The crown prince" Jon answered smoothly. "But not a great warrior" he added. Joffrey fumed, picking his blade, sheathing it and then storming away from the sparring grounds. Ser Barristan sighed.
"The prince will remember that" he stated evenly when he walked up to Jon.
"Good. Maybe that would save his life in an actual fight" Jon stated, sheathing his sword.
"Jon" the boy in question looked down and found Tommen standing there. "Can you teach me how you did that? It looked so cool" the boy said excitedly.
"He can teach you tomorrow" Ser Barristan put a hand on the young boy's head. "Training is adjourned for today. Same time tomorrow morning" he instructed before moving away. Tommen gave Jon one last smile before he walked away as well. Jon stayed back for a bit, putting the practice swords and dummies away. When he was close to the entrance of The Tower of Hand, he noticed someone in black entering. His good mood dropped knowing what news the Black Brother had come to deliver.
The Hand's Chamber
Jon walked in with Jory and Yoren of The Night's Watch but remained even when his uncle insisted he leave. Jory of course walked out and Jon closed the door behind him.
"Lady Catelyn has arrested Tyrion Lannister hasn't she" Jon's statement was met with puzzlement from his uncle and surprise from Yoren.
"Aye, she did. She's taken him from an inn on The Kingsroad near The Riverlands. A few knights from houses sworn to her father had helped her and with The Imp she intends to travel to stand trial at Winterfell for crimes against her family."
"She's not heading to Winterfell" Jon muttered softly and Yoren gave him a puzzling look. "I thank you for relaying this important message to us, Yoren. I'd like to talk to my father now please, alone. If you wait a few days in The Capital, we'll get you, men, for The Night's Watch, and a letter for The Lord Commander."
Yoren went to speak but Jon had held the door open for the man. Swallowing Yoren walked out of the room and Jon closed the door gently behind him.
"That was a rude dismissal on your part Jon," Ned Stark said disapprovingly to his 'son'. "How did you know that Cate arrested Tyrion?"
"In a dream" Jon answered.
"Jon, tell me honestly. This is no time for-"
"I speak to you the truth" Jon cut his uncle off. "I saw it happen in a dream. Same as I saw your father saw those words I told you the other day to you and your siblings. The same way I saw the morning star fall when a lizard lion pounced on his back" he went on to add. To the common ear, those last few words would make little sense. To the spiders and sparrows in the walls, those words when relayed would earn them incredulous looks and chastise. But Ned Stark understood and his jaws clenched tightly as a result of it.
"You will be confronted by Jaime Lannister in the street of silk today about it when you go out to visit another one of King Robert's bastards. And when he confronts you, tell him that you have been informed and that you've sent a raven to your wife and demanded that she let Tyrion Lannister go. And that you had no idea she did something like that."
"You would have me abandon my wife like that?" Ned questioned, looking at his nephew with some astonishment and disappointment.
"I would have you think about your daughter here" Jon argued. "The Capital is infested with Lannister men left, right and centre. If something were to happen to you, what do you think they would do to Sansa? What do you think they would do to the men you brought here from The North? What do you think they would do to you?"
"Robert is King and he will protect us no matter what" Ned reasoned.
"We both know he would want to settle any dispute between his good family and his best friend. He will order you as your King to make Lady Catelyn release his imp good brother and make her understand not to be rash like that again. King Robert is a great warrior, but he does not like conflict in his own home. You know I am right."
"Robert will do what is right" Ned insisted.
"King Robert will do what is easy" Jon argued. A tense moment passed between the two before Jon released a breath. "In a few moments, you will be summoned to a Council Meeting by the King himself. There he will tell you that Daenerys Targaryen is pregnant with Khal Drogo's child. He will command the death of Daenerys, her child and her brother Viserys. He will not care what it would do to his honour, because Robert Baratheon does not rule this Kingdom with honour. He does it through fear and blood."
"You can't know that" Ned argued, rage burning in his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from Jon. Where had he gotten that idea? Has someone been whispering in his ear? Or has someone figured out who he was and was planning on using him to challenge Robert's claim? He couldn't let that happen. He's managed for years to keep Jon safe and retain Robert on The Throne. He was not about to watch it all be undone before him.
Jon simply stepped aside and opened the door. On the other side stood a steward, a fist raised. He looked like he was about to knock. "You'll see for yourself then. Everything I said will happen and when it does, I hope you heed my counsel and see to protect the men you brought and the family that came with you" with that Jon stormed out of the room.