Iron bank, Braavos, 280 AC.

"Fuck you, Stark" Roose thought to himself, he was standing inside the Iron Bank of Braavos, or rather it's Atrium, it was a massive room carved out of the side of a mountain that could easily house a small keep, every inch of the floor, walls and ceiling was made of white marble that gleamed in the sun light, it was so big that birds flew around and made nest in the ceiling. But despite its enormous size the atrium was completely empty except for the large marble table and benches at the center and the guards that lined the walls. no vases, paintings, plants or statues, just empty space "you'd think they'd at least add more chairs". A sound of metal latches and footsteps drew Roose's attention from his thoughts.

"Good Morning" Roose said as politely as possible, even bowing his head to the three Bankers who've just entered the room, "Thank you for seeing me in such short notice, sirs"

"Thank you for choosing the iron bank, Lord Bolton" one of the three men responded with a smile, he then gestured for Roose to set on one of the three benches, Roose complies and chooses the middle one, the bankers set at the three marble chairs resembling thrones, between Roose and the Bankers is a large marble table that occupied seventeen square feet of space "now Lord Bolton, how may our establishment serve you?"

Roose cleared his throat and spoke "we would like to deposit our gold into the Iron bank" Roose hated men like the bankers, men who smiled too much, but Eddard had commanded him to come here and deposit their hoard as it was becoming too large to manage, as Eddard had pointed out "more money, more problems" the danger in having so much gold inside a place built to keep people out was not ideal, so it fell on Roose to secure the Iron Bank's compliance in admitting their entry into the Bank,

"I see" the same man answered with another smile, "and how much would you be depositing, Lord Roose?", "there's that fucking smile again", Roose though, anyone who smiled too much was either happy or stupid, the man in front of him was neither so Roose didn't trust him.

"Unfortunately, sirs" Roose said stoic as stone, he'd be damned if he had to force himself to smile "the majority of our gold is not in the form of countable currency and the ones that are, are in various forms of currency" counting the loot was the real problem that promoted Eddard to suggest the Iron Bank, sense the loot itself was a mismatch of valuable items from all over Essos, no one truly knew how much it was worth, a gold disc from Lys could be worth a fortune in Myr but not in Lys itself where such items are in abundance, the same could be said about the many denominations of coinage. "so I cannot give you a proper estimation of the total value"

"Oh my, what is the specific condition of the gold, my I ask" the banker asked with his painted on smile, Roose was now wondering "those he even knows how to smile for real?"

"They are in the form of garments, accessories, statuettes, kitchenware, jewels, fabrics and various other trinkets" Roose elaborated while gesturing with his hands, after the explanation he put his hand back on his lap, he then realized the stone table was too far away for him to rest his hands on it, just as Eddard said they'd be, "so you look like a child begging his parent for money, it's to keep you at a mental disadvantage during negotiations", Roose repeated Eddard's words to himself before he left Rose camp and again now. "However we were able to amass 892,372 braavosi coins, 254,294 Pentoshi coins, 312,876 Myrish coins, 229,123 coins, 213,452 Tyroshi coins, 143,317 Volantin coins and 980,476 gold dragons worth of Westorosi coins.

"And how did you come by these items?" the banker kept his smile but his tone was unmistakably serious "piracy and banditry are not recognized means of obtaining funds in Braavos"

"It is fortunate then that we did not come by them by those means" Roose answered unfazed by the implication, the Iron Bank of Braavos was larger than any other Bank in Essos because unlike the rest of them, it did not accept gold that was either stolen or used in slavery, the biggest contributor of gold in the Iron bank are not kings, emperors or even nobles, it is the hundreds of thousands of merchants, farmers, shopkeepers, even laborers, each of them choose the Iron bank because even if the rest of the world preyed on them, the Iron Bank will not, for unless their gold was made honestly the bank will never protect it.

"How then, Lord Bolton?" another Banker spoke up for the first time, he however did not smile.

"We've defeated two Khalasars, three Sellsword companies and enumerable gangs of brigands over the course of five years, sirs" Roose knew this would happen, he had argued the point vigorously to Eddard when he told him to come here, but unfortunately, Eddard won that argument. "They are all war spoils"

"The Ironborn would say the same thing, as would Dothraki" the second banker spoke again, he seemed to be the serious one "on what grounds does the 'Company of the Rose' declare them as such"

"War spoils are defined as 'any profit extracted as a result of winning a war'" Roose hated explaining himself, it made him feel inferior, like a child being interrogated by his keeper "we are waging a war against the slaver cities"

That caught the attention of the Bankers, they leaned back and whispered among themselves, "fuck you, Ned" Roose thought, he knew the truth as did Willis and Howland, they knew why Eddard was actively targeting the Dothraki and rival sellsword companies. They weren't waging a war, they were conquering territory, and just like every conqueror before him Eddard needed support, that was why he needed the Iron Bank, not for their gold or for their resources. Eddard of house Stark needed to be legitimized.

"We shall need a day to ponder your proposal" the second banker said, they seemed keen on the idea but they still needed more convincing "will you be in the city long?"

"yes sir," Roose answered, "damn, I just lost a bet" he thought, "I will be staying at an establishment near the docks, I will return tomorrow for your answer"

"Please excuse us then Lord Bolton" all three bankers stood up but before they could bow and adjourn the meeting, Roose interrupted them one last time.

"Actually there is another piece of business I wish to conduct before I leave"

"Which is?"

"Could you by any chance know how to contact the sellsword company known as the 'Wolf Pack'?"

The Neck, 297 AC.

Tyrion was now heading for the great hall after his bath, accompanied by Talia his helper who kept pace with the little Lannester, he was yet to ask her for the full service as he was still too hungover to try for it, as he passed the corridors that lead to the hall he spies multiple guards patrolling the corridors, each bowed slightly at Tyrion as they passed, as Tyrion and Talia turned a corner they see another guard keeping watch over the long hallway, Talia noticed Tyrion's curiosity with the guard and sought to do her duty.

"My Lord" Talia pulled Tyrion from his musing, "do you wish to ask a question concerning the Crannogmen?" Talia gestured for the guard to approach them. The guard compiled and stood before them both, he was wearing a green tunic that came down to his ankles, it covered his chainmail leather armor, he held a short steel bow in his hands, a quiver filled with arrows was strapped on his back and a short sword dangled on left side of his hip.

The small lion smiles at her warmly "of course, lady Talia" Tyrion knew this was all a show, "she's here to keep an eye on me", Tyrion pointed at the guard's weapon and asked.

The guard followed Tyrion's finger to his sword, he then unhooked it from his side and showed it to the half-man "it is called a bayonet, my Lord" Tyrion looked on as the guard drew the small thin dagger out of its sheath and handed it over to Tyrion, in his small hands Tyrion inspected it, it had a foot long blade with a wooden handle and a 's' shaped crossguard, the blade was thick in the middle, razor thin at the blade and a tapered to a needle point, while the handle had several ridges on it, "it is made for close quarter combat, the ridges on the handle help drain away the blood to prevent slippage during combat while the thick core of the blade insure that it not bend or break, my Lord"

"I see" Tyrion returned the bayonet, "thank you, young Crannogman, I would like to ask more questions but, I must break my fast with the family"

"I shall be here when you return, my Lord Lannester" the guard bowed again and continued down the corridor, Tyrion also went on their way.

Robert had pushed himself off the bed and rubbed off the crust from his eye, he looked around and to his surprise his wife was there, warm and sticky with a thin coat of sweat, her hair that was always well kept and tied in a bun was now splayed and tangled beneath her, she seems to be fast asleep judging by the rise and fall of her bare chest. A smirk appeared on his face at the site of the beauty in his bed, then it quickly disappeared, "Lyanna" he thought, the name still carried weight even now when he had a wife, a son and two daughters, he should have been better, he should not have wasted his time on whores, fighting and feasts, if only, if only he had convinced Brandon to stay and gather strength before riding into Kings Landing and demanding justice from the mad king, if only he did not egg him on with summer words and song, sending him with too few and to his death, "if only the war had ended sooner, then I could have saved her from dying on the tower of joy, if only Brandon had become the lord of Winterfell, I would have a true friend, not boot licker and money grubbers beside me", Robert thought, it was not the first time he wished things were different, Robert pushed himself off the bed and went to find his rode, he was no longer the warrior he once was, though he could have been fatter if not for the guilt he still held, Eddard had brought his army of sixty thousand men, forty of them were comprised of his 'flower men', Eddard had payed sellsails to bring them all the way to the north and down the Neck, forty well trained, well armed, battle hardened men. no one had ever seen so many armored men in a single war, only knights or wealthy men wore armor to insure their survival and distinguished them from the rabble, armor was expensive and those who wore them were generally captured for ransom instead of being killed, yet every single soldier that marched under the rose banner was in segmented cuirass over a blue tunic, with a long blue cape, a steel helmet and a rectangular shields with the sigil of large rose inside wreath of thorns, so many in fact that the battle was called the Sea of Steel.

After the incident at Stony Sept, Eddard marched his army directly to Kingslanding, and was ambushed by prince Rheagar, as Eddard's army crossed the ford the Targaryan loyalist came from the east, Rheagar had gathered nearly eighty thousand men from the crownlands, Reach, Dorne, and even hired sellswords, after they were warned by Cunnington of the Northern army being joined by the most dreaded sellsword company in Essos, so the crown had bribed the Reach with lands and wealth, Mace was all too eager to prove himself and hosted the Princes army as it gathered at Storm's End, he and the loyal stormlords quickly joined to add to Rheagar's army, as for the Dornish, the Mad king threatened to burn princes Elia alive if they did not come, so they did. Outside the walls of the Baratheon seat they all poured their support into their prince's cause and with them all his army swelled. Rhaegar, knowing Eddard's army was too large to move swiftly across the land, waited for them to cross the ford to ambush them, but to the horror of Rheagar and all who followed his madness, they were completely out matched, the company of the Rose was like a singular solid sea of steel and stamina, those in front fought for a while then cycled back to be replaced by a fresh fighter, the cavalry did the same when charging into battle and then returning to be replace by another fresh rider, the poor fools who fought with leather or no armor at all were killed instantly, while those that did were killed slowly, they spared no one, all thoughts of ransom and hostages were forgotten as Eddard's war machine systematically processed men into corpses. Robert on the other hand could only watch as his war was being fought for him, though many plead with him to left the siege of Storm's End, Robert would not hear them, he was determined to save Lyanna and avenge Brandon, he planned to apologize to Eddard and join his army with Robert's so that together they could finally destroy the Targaryen dynasty. That decision would come back to haunt Robert for all his days, for while he fought a war that he was no longer apart of, his brothers payed the price.

After clothing himself he approached the door, but before he could open it, someone knocked, "Your grace" the voice of one of his kings guard spoke, "sir Trant, perhaps" Robert though, "two servants are here to bring you to a bath, your grace"

"I'll be out" Robert opened the door and saw two serving girls, one was carrying cloths and the other carrying a small basket, Robert smiled widely at the girls and said "who may I help you, ladies"

"Good morning, your Grace, my name is Lori," one of the girls said and curtsied, blushing at the man. "And this is my friend, Jinny" the girl in question curtsied "We've come to bring you to the bath King Baratheon"

"Aren't you afraid to come here by yourself?" Robert voice carried a jovial tone "there could be some assassins about"

"There are nothing to be afraid of your grace" the Jinny girl answered, with a smirk on her face as she admired Robert's exposed hairy chest "no one has ever gotten passed the Crannogmen"

"If it's alright with you both, could you stick close to me if there are" Robert walked with the girls, each clinging to his arms and giggling as they lead Robert to the bath, pressing their breast as they did "now then, where are you beautiful ladies from?" Robert continued while being trailed by two of his Kingsguard while another waited at the door for the queen.

"The school of the cat, your grace" Lori answered, she and Jinny nudged Robert to turn him left.

"And what is 'the school of the cat?" Robert kept his jovial tone but was genuinely interested in the subject, "is it like the Citadel?"

"Only a little your Grace" Jinny said, she was feeling Roberts thick muscular arm with some enthusiasm, "at first it was a place where orphaned girls were sent to be cared for, now it is a place where girls are taught their letters and numbers"

"Your King is generous" Robert had wished to do the same with his kingdom, but he lacked the knowledge to do so and with Varys being useless in gathering information, all he could do was not be cruel to them, "I wonder if Eddard will reveal who his spymaster is?"

Catelyn began to toss and turn in the bed, when she finally awoke, she found a familiar site, her alone in bed with not but Robert's scent to greet her, her head was pulsating like a hard ridden horse and her vision was slow to return leaving her feeling and fumbling her way out of bed, before she could dress herself there was a knock on the door.

"My Queen, there is a servant here to escort you to the baths" sir Blount spoke from behind the door

"Where are my handmaidens?" she asked back.

"They are also out here, my Queen"

"I will be out in a moment" she answered, after undressing usually her handmaidens would be the ones to take care of her morning rituals, but here in this place she had to do as the locals guided her to, "this is the first time the North has allowed any dignitaries to enter it's domain, I mustn't offend them" she thought as she exited the room she shared with her husband, she was greeted by her usual handmaidens and kings guard, from behind them a new face presented herself to her, she was a pale skinned brunette with vibrant blue eye, her hair was in a bun and she wore a green tunic, "and who are you my dear?"

"I am Sharon"the girl responded politely and curtsied to the Queen "please come with me, I shall lead you to your personal bath"

"Lead on then" Catelyn Tully gracefully gestured to the girl.

As the girl move ahead of them she she remarks "the lord of Greenguard Castle wishes to apologies for this inconvenience, your Grace" Sharon bow slightly at Catelyn "to conserve heat, the baths are located near the center of the castle, where the furnaces is"

"I see"

Rose fortress, Near Vaes Khadokh, 278 AC.

At first it surprised Eddard that Howland would readily agree to stealthy killing and dismembering another human being, but as It turns out, Howland had witnessed several beheadings and fights to the death in his earlier childhood, so many in fact, that at this point he was used to it. The Neck it seemed was a perfect hideout for bandits and murderers who were on the run, because of how difficult it is to traverse and how easy it is to hide in add to that how very few people inhabited it, much less patrolled it, it was like going to another country, if you knew enough of the layout you could hide away as long as needed until the heat died down, but that didn't mean you could hide from the locals forever and being the heir Howland Had to be there to witness every time he's Lord Father needed a show of force. In this world, might is not only right it's also morality itself, chopping off a few heads to keep your subjects in line was not only accepted, it was expected. Luckily for Eddard the general opinion of the Dothraki were so low that hardly anyone even bat an eye when Eddard told them how he would lure them into a trap, the only real concern for his plan was if he had the stomach for it, lucky Jero did, and now so does Eddard.

There were too many dead inside and outside the village, and in the Essosi heat too many were rotting too fast, so rather than gather them up into a pit to burn or bury, it was easier to pile soil and stone over the bodies, which was made easy by the fact that the hill they used to deliver the finishing blow was mostly made up of both. the villagers whom Eddard had paid to leave their homes were now left homeless, moderately rich, but still homeless, even if they rebuild their home and halls, which they could afford to do, twice, no one wanted to live where so many had died that they renamed the site, "Goron's Grave", so the villagers went with the Rose company, soon after, the freed slaves of the Dothraki and the other villagers form the ones the Dothraki raided, followed as well, seeking safety and shelter, with their combined help and Eddard's instruction, the Rose Fortress was built, Eddard based it on Viking forts which justifies it's namesake with it's circular design, Iggar agreed with Eddard's proposal to build a permanent base for the company to operate from, it would be suicide to lead such a large number of refugees across the Dothraki sea. so Eddard found a the perfect location, the fortress would be built on a hill near the ruins of Vaes Khadokh, it had a lush overgrown forest that would provide them with more than enough lumber than they would ever need, also nearby was a river that cut through the land and was directly connected to the shivering sea, it gave them a way to travel and purchase supplies from Braavos to Ibb, first they dug a twenty foot deep moat encircling the site and redirected the river to fill it, then they carved up the hill and made a forty foot tall motte at a forty five degree angle using earth from the moat and the hill itself, they topped it with a forty foot high wall made out of thick logs from the forest and finally eight fifty foot tall watchtowers, sixteen three story longhouses were built, four houses were arranged into a square with a bonfire in the middle, one square surrounded a massive charcoal forge that they powered by two massive bellows which was itself powered by two water wheels, it liquefied metal sand and infuse it with carbon making it stronger than castle forge steel which the many smiths made into arms and armor, it was also used to cooked food, boil water and made charcoal from the excess wood, another square was for processing crops, vegetables, meat, and leather, the last two square were used as living quarters, all of which combined to make an even larger square at the center of the circular fortress, to insure that no one knew of the fortress, Eddard asked Iggar to form a small contingent of rangers to go beyond where their towers could see and kill any unfriendly scouting parties that had the misfortune of coming too close to the fortress, Howlnad accompanied them as he was small and stealthy enough to kill the lookouts before the rest came and raided their camps, While Willis went with the sellswords charged with protecting the villagers when they went to collect lumber, forage or hunt for food, Roose oddly enough, became Eddard's second in command and helped him with the logistics of the massive endeavor. Eddard, Roose, Iggard and Edmyne worked closely with each other to train the new recruits, which had grown to seven thousand including archers, cavalry, light and heavy infantry, and through Eddard's insistence, engineers. Eddard had chosen to come to Essos near the end of summer so he could build his fortress in peace as the cold temperature drove the Dothraki south and halted most sellsword companies from heading north and discovering the fortress, luckily the winter only lasted two years and five months, more than enough time to build and equipped an army, but an army need to be fed and paid, so during construction he had commissioned the farmers to make farms, using Jero's knowledge from past life. Before joining the Yakuza, he was born the son of a farmer, his father had wished to pass on the farm to his son before the outbreak of the second world war that left him an orphan at fourteen. Eddard used the superior farming methods to maximize yield and used clay pots to pickle or ferment the meat and vegetables to minimize wastage, with their loot they bought a ship and sold their extra crop to Bravos and Idd as they paid a higher price than any of the coastal villages along the northern shore. so it went like that all throughout two year winter and the first year of summer. building, farming and training, the villagers were happy at finally living in peace and eating their fell, until one day Howland brought to the fortress a reminder of what was out there.

Edmyne Reed stood high atop the south eastern watchtower and saw with slight satisfaction at the siege engines he had helped make, there were four of them now within the safety of the fortress, thought they had built six, the first two were 'prototype' as Eddard had called them, the new design of the engine had taken time to perfect, Eddard himself had been frustrated by the difficulty in 'calculating' the ratios that made it superior to the catapult, it was rare to see Eddard Stark the 'once-in-a-lifetime-genius'that way, worried, Edmyne had overheard Willis say that he didn't sleep for three days until he figure it out, nevertheless the Trebuchet was magnificent, it stood fifty feet from when it's 'armed', Edmyne could hardly believe something could hurl huge boulders at such long distances, a catapult with a well trained crew could only throw a smaller stones at lesser distance and frequency, this engine however, could be adjusted to launch larger weights at a greater distance, though it required a larger crew to man, and with the addition of two treadwheels with 'planetary gears' on either side loading became faster and easier. Edmyne turned around and looked out into the fields outside the Rose fortress, the trebuchets were not the only thing Eddard designed for them, lining the border of the farms were what Eddard called 'hedgehogs', three wooden logs joined at the middle and sharpened at the ends, the design allowed them to be turned over at any side and still present three sharp points, he understood why Iggar saw him as a potential successor to the company, just then his attention was captured by a trail of dust the approached from afar, Edmyne took out his far eye to get a closer look, by the looks of them it was Howland and the rangers returning from their latest scouting mission, but as they became closer to the eastern gate, he could see that they had brought something with them this time.

The sun had barely resin and yet it was already hot, the clanking and clamoring sound of smiths working on the on Eddard's new segmented armor design, the thrashing, tumbling, grunting and grinding of farmers as they processed their crop with Eddard's ox powered stone wheel and thresher, the sound of women washing with Eddard's washing wheel and cooking with Eddard's stone stoves, filled the air. It had been three years since the people of the surrounding villages had followed the wolf lord of the west to build his own kingdom, the people were mostly dark skinned and black haired Essosi, however, as they were all descendants of past kingdoms and cities with their own language, they spoke differently, they mitigated this by speaking in the common tongue, though some spoke better than others, but despite their differences, they all agreed that the wolf lord was their savior and eagerly worked under his direction, especially when he regularly provided them with inventions that make their live easier, though some of the older folk were wary as they were 'unnatural things', he trained their men to be soldiers and teach their children their letters and numbers, they were content with following the wolf lord, for once in their live they knew safety. But their silence was rocked when the fortress gates were opened and the wolf lord's frog friend came back from his ranging beyond the borders to keep them safe, he and the other rangers seem to have capture someone, they could tell because one of the riders was naked and was draped across the horse's back, he looked to be a boy barely a man, his limbs were tied and his mouth was bleeding, the frog boy and the rangers stopped and handed their horses to the men who breed and maintained the horses, one of the rangers grabbed the bond boy and swung him over his shoulder, they were about to walk away when the boy suddenly sprang to life and drove an elbow into the back of the man's head, knocking him over, the boy then attempted to hop away and was swiftly pinned down by another ranger, the people who were near enough to see the commotion started laughing at the scene, as the boy was being dragged away by his feet he shouted in dothraki [MY FATHER WILL KILL YOU ALL!, MY FATHER IS KHAL MAULIK! HE WILL COME FOR ME! HE WILL KILL YOUR MEN AND RAPE YOUR WOMEN! HEAR ME YOU SHEEP! HIS KHALASAR IS THIRTY THOUSAND STRONG! HE WILL COME FOR M- ] his tirade was cut short when the man he elbowed in the head kicked him in the face, they continued to drag the boy away, not realizing the people around them had stopped laughing, but Edmyne noticed it, he had live in Esso all his life and that allowed him to understand what the boy said.

The fear in people's eyes were obvious, there was one other language the people commonly knew but rarely used, Dothraki, they knew a Khalasar that size would have no problem destroying their new home, the three years of peace they've known could not erase the hundreds of years of fear itched into their very being, murmurs and machinations started to spill and spread, there was no rarely a cloud in the Essosi sky, but even so the mood in the fortress had turned dark and by noon all who live within the fortress of the Rose, would know of the boy's threat and of the coming hoard.

It was almost noon when Eddard heard footsteps outside his door "Ned!" Willis called to him, his voice had finally broke and now he didn't sound like an 'old child' as Roose had pointed out, he also grew half a foot and packed on some more muscle which distinguished him from everyone else in the fortress "Howl's back and brought someone, captain Iggar has called for a meeting"

"Lead the way then Will" Eddard stood from his desk and chair, he had been given an office to conduct his various ideas and experiments, though it was provided more to keep him away from the children who had taken to calling him 'Eddard the eerie".

Moments later Eddard and Willis arrive at the captain's quarters, it was the second largest room in the fortress next to the great hall they used to gather the captains. Inside, Iggar, Edmyne, Howland and several of the veterans that acted as commanders to the growing army. there was one more person there, he was completely naked apart from the burlap sack over his head, his hands and feet were bound in the style that Eddard had showed them to prevent escape, from the looks of him he was a barely out of his teen, one of the veterans pulled off the sack and revealed the boy's bruised and swollen face, after seeing his captors the boy immediately started cursing out threats and insults, he was silenced by another veteran kicking his face.

"Roose hasn't returned?" Eddard asked, after looking around and seeing everyone but him were present, it was strange at first but Eddard and Roose seemed to have come to an understanding, Roose had accepted Eddard as his superior and no longer threatened or taunted Eddard and the others, as often as he did, and Eddard had made Roose he's second in command and shared with him all his plans and preparations, though not completely as Roose would somehow view his eagerness as a form of naivety and therefore a form of weakness,

"He is still in Braavos" one of the veterans said, his arms were crossed and his dust on his leather armor "he sent a raven, he said that he will be late, the Wolf Pack was still on a contract" Eddard nodded and Iggar motioned for Howland to start.

"Right, uh, we caught this one a few miles east of here, he was part of group of scouting party of fifteen Dothrakis, we kept him alive because he says he's the son of a Khal" Howland spoke, though the four of them were older now, Howland was the only one who didn't seem to grow taller, but he had always made that into a strength, being able to resemble a child he would wait for his opponent to approach him thinking he was harmless, then Howland would use battoujutsu to land a killing blow, the Ranger who he accompanied had said they had seen him use the technique numerous time with some success, lucky the Rangers would end the fight with a bolt to the opponent's head before Howland could get hurt. "we've worked him over for a couple of days on our way over here, we were trying to find out how many there are in his Khalasar and how far they were" the boy spits at Howland's feet with large globules of blood, and is rewarded with another kick to the face, "he says his Boulin and his father is Khal Maulik, and he has more than thirty thousand riders, we figured we could use the hostage, so we brought him here"

"He said that the Khalasar was only weeks away" Howland looked around the room making sure everyone heard him, they all had stern faces, Howland had heard stories about the Dothraki and they weren't comforting, the true danger of Dothraki was that they were borderline suicidal when they attack, not caring about injury or death, they ride hard into battle screaming madly as they cut down anyone that were not on horseback or didn't look like them and unless their Khal or one of his blood riders said so they wouldn't stop, "what should we do"

"If I may captain" Eddard spoke from where he stood, Iggar gestured for him to continue, Eddard bowed and did so "with your permission captain, I would lead a hundred men to intercept the Dothraki and lure them here"

"Are you sure that your preparations are up to the task" Iggar said keeping his voice low, after giving them such a remarkable victory and raising the number of soldiers in his company Iggar had come to respect the boy, though he did so warily as he had noticed that Eddard despite still being a child, talk and acts like a jaded warrior, something Iggar had lived with his entire life, "a faceless man perhaps, or a demon" he though and theorized, it kept him up at night trying to solve the mystery of the boy that seemed to have all the answers "the men may be trained but they're greener than spring grass and the crews for the engines you made are still as slow as when they started"

"The fortress is ready, it's defenses are ready" Eddard said, none could mistake the excitement in his voice and the smirk on his face, at first they followed him because of his last name, now they follow him because they knew, whatever Eddard promises, Eddard delivers. "and fortunately, we don't need for the crews to be fast for this fight"

Suddenly the door to the room opened revealing Edmyne's scowling face, his breath was slightly heavy and his brow had a thin layer of sweat, he said nothing till the door was closed again by the guards outside, "we have a problem!"

"What?" Willis asked, he slowly drew back his arm from shielding Eddard, as did Howland push his new sword back into the sheath.

"That little show out there has got the people spooked" Edmyne said calmly, he gestured to the boy, "they all heard him talk about his Khal father and who many Riders he bringing with him"

"I didn't know you speak Dothraki?" Eddard asked, Edmyne rarely spoke unless addressed directly, though not a warrior himself, his talents were keeping the captain(s) informed, as such he had been working with Eddard closely since Iggar had recognized him as his successor.

"I know enough" Edmyne had now completely composed himself, Edmyne like the rest of the recruits jogged around the fortress everyday so as to build up their stamina, he age it seemed was not as much a hindrance as many thought, he was now able to run at length without breaking a sweat "they were all murmuring about the fortress, 'are we safe?', 'are we ready?' that type of talk"

All eyes went to Eddard, he was not the true leader of the fortress yet, but Iggar was too old to continue, and had regularly passed on duties to Eddard to groom him to become his replacement "with your permission, captain, I would ask for your men to not keep our intention to fight the boy's khal father a secret and answer any question they ask with the truth, however, if they ask how far the Khalasar is, tell them they are a moth away"

"Is it your intention to cause a revolt?" Iggar asked.

"I can only hope, captain" Iggar furrowed his eyebrows at Eddard's response

"Very well then" Iggar spoke and Eddard bowed.

Dothraki sea, Northern border, Khal Maulik War Camp, 278 AC

[It looks like a pile of hands and feet] a dothraki scout was explaining what he saw when he had arrived at the camp where the Khal's son should have been, the Khal had tasked his blood rider to take ten riders and his son Boulin to accompany them so that he may gain some experience. but two weeks had passed after the day they should have returned, Khal Maulik had then sent his first blood rider and thirty other riders to investigate, what they found was the ten riders all with dismembered, scalped and naked, placed where their campfire should have been was a disc of neatly arranged hands and feet forming what should have been a 'rose' and next to it was the pile of scalps.

[maybe it's a flower?] one Dothraki said.

[It looks like pie from here!] added another.

[A flower?]

[I bet it's a nest?]

[it looks like an asshole] another Dothraki giggled at his own joke as he's followed by the rest, they could not understand what the pile of limbs could mean, because in the vast, barren, hot, expanse of the Dothraki sea, there wasn't a single rose that grew in it. [maybe it means something?] he added sarcastically.

[It doesn't matter] a another Dothraki spoke up, trying to pull his companions from their preposterous musing [we came here to find Boulin and we didn't] he gestures to the bodies lying and rotting splayed on the campsite, [he was taken by someone, we should head back and tell the Khal!]

[TELL HIM WHAT?] the Blood Rider leading them roared, his anger was evident in his voice, he personally knew the boy and loved him dearly, [IT LOOKS LIKE CUNT TO ME, IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO TELL YOUR KHAL?, THAT BOULIN WAS TAKEN BY A ROVING GANG OF CUNTS!] he then swung his arakh into the air as he gestured for them to [SPREAD OUT, AND SEE IF THERE'S ANYTHING ELSE TO FIND, YOU BASTARDS!]

[But it will be night soon!] a Dothraki said, the sun was now red and low, slowly sinking into the horizon

[THEN YOU BETTER HURRY, I WILL NOT BE RETURN TO MY KHAL EMPTY HAN-!] the bloodrider was dead before he hit the ground, the rest of the Dothraki scrambled to see where the arrow bolt that replaced his eye had come from, they whipped their heads at tree line thinking it were the only place to hide in this land, they never even considered the fact that if their bloodrider could be killed at that distance, then so could they, and so like the suicidal fools they were, they rode directly at it, one by one they dropped like flies until only their horses reached the trees,

"should we make another pile, sir?" one of the veterans standing next to Roose asked, Howland raised an eye brow at his question.

"it's supposed to be a rose" Howland corrected.

"listen, Reed" Roose beside him said in frustration "I understand that his a genius and he has built all those new weapons and equipment for us all, but you have to give up on the whole 'make a rose out of hands and feet' thing, it's never gonna work"

"Ned has already shown us how to do it, you just-"

"Reed!" Roose grabbed Howland's shoulder to get his attention "shut the fuck up and listen, if you made a rose out of pieces of shit, they're gonna says they saw a pile of shit, if you made a rose out of a bars of gold, they're gonna say they saw a pile of gold, if you put hands and feet into a-"

"alright!... you tell him Ned when we get back, then!"

Rose fortress, near Vaes Khadokh, 278 AC.

"They're getting louder out there, Ned" Willis said, standing by the window of Eddard's office as the crowd outside started to get larger and louder. Willis was fully armored as he insisted on it being a precaution, wearing the segmented armor Eddard had designed, Willis' was made especially for him as he was now a seven foot tall muscular fifteen year old. The breastplate depicted an angry boar with its maw open to brandish its tusks, below it are the words 'you can kill me, but you can't eat me', he had taken it as the sigil and words of his house, at Eddard's suggestion "are you sure you don't need me out there with you?"

"It will be fine" Eddard answered, he noted that if Willis did not stop growing he would need another set of armor again, he however was wearing a simple blue tunic with a small rose on its scruff, Eddard wished to make it into their official uniform but had to relent as it would cost too much and was too far down the list of thing he needed to be done before the rebellion started. He did however manage to give Iggar a green cape with an image of a blue rose inside a circle of interweaving thorns, as a symbol of his authority "are Howl and Roose already gone"

"Yes" Willis answered, the second part of Eddard's plan was to make the Khalasar as weak and worn as possible before they reach the fortress, so he sent Howland to swiftly kill any scouting party and Roose to torture out anything useful out of them before they left them for the Khalasar to find "the army had left in the morning as you asked"

"Wish me luck"

"I wish you luck, Ned" after hearing Willis, Eddard walks out of his office and down the corridor that leads to the great hall, when aeddard was out of hearing he whispered "I hope this works" then he slide on his helmet and went out into the stables to find his horse.

It had been several days after Boulin's outburst, the villagers and new recruits all had gathered outside the great hall and waited for Iggar and Eddard to hear their demands, days before this, discontent had spread throughout the fortress about the upcoming battle with the Khalasar, the main concern was they were unprepared to defend the fortress from such a large foe, none of the new recruits had ever killed before much less fight an actual war, the three year winter that allowed the smiths and armorers to equip every soldier within the army, also prevented them from drilling as one single unit, the simply act of staying out for more than an hour would lead to hypothermia and then death, the only training that the recruits had was fighting in tight 'phalanx' and 'testudo' formations, they had seen the effectiveness of the formation against an enemy like the Dothraki, but three years of peaceful bliss did little to erase generations of trauma. the boiling point had been reached when it was announced that they would be leaving the fortress and attacking the Dothraki directly.

They had all gathered to voice their complaints on their leaders decision to fight such an enemy in the open where it favored the Dothraki, the crowd within the Great hall consisted of the elders of each of the villages that had come to the fortress, some had come at the beginning others had come when the winter threatened their lives and sought out safety, there were twenty elders in total now, each representing their respective villages, they were all elected by their villagers to be in the fortress council, a system that Eddard had put in place to better organize the fortress' culturally diverse and divided inhabitants.

Eddard appeared before the council using the entrance behind the high table, the crowd's noise had begun to rise and had abruptly stopped when they saw Eddard's form at the table, Edmyne and Roose usually participated in the council meetings as they are in charge of the fortress logistics, but now they were absent, Eddard then addressed the council "I have heard your pleas to release the Khal's son and to broker peace with the Dothraki" the elders nodded and the crowd behind them murmured in agreement, one elder attempted to speak but Eddard silenced him with his raised palm, "I'm not finished" the crowd became quit again, they knew who Eddard was and why the battle hardened leader and veteran sillswords of the company of the Rose all listened to him, "YOU FUCKING COWARDS!" Eddard roared at the gathered men and women, "I HAVE GIVEN YOU THE ARMS AND ARMOR TO WIELD AGAINST YOUR ENEMIES, AND WHAT DO YOU DO?" Eddard paused as if to wait for then to answer but then continued his rant "YOU THROW IT ALL DOWN AT THE MERE MENTION OF THEM!"

One Elder stood up and pointed a finger at Eddard "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF SOMETHING YOU DO NOT KNOW" he shouted back, his voice raspy and hoarse with age, "YOU DO NOT KNOW OF THE YEARS WE HAVE ENDURED AND THE PEOPLE WE HAVE LOST WHEN THEY CAME"

Another elder stood and said with calm voice "you are not from here wolf lord, you cannot understand our way, You may have defeated Khal Goron, but he only had a third of the riders this other Khal has, even if we gathered all our men, it will not be enough"

"We still have time to leave to the mountains for safety" another elders said amicable,

"This is not our fight" someone from the crowd shouted

"Your mad man, a demon from the west" a female elder said from where she was seated, though they were thankful for Eddard's inventions, there were those among the villagers that held on to the notion that they were unnatural. At her proclamation many of the crowd murmured in agreement, while some yelled out "DEMON!" at Eddard

"WE WILL NOT LET OUR CHILDREN DIE TO FEED YOUR AMBITION, WOLF LORD!" the first elder shouted with finality, the crowd had all agreed with the elders and their

Eddard waited silently for all them to finish, after they had all quilted down Eddard said calmly, "very well, if you wish to leave then leave" the elders seemed to be pleased with Eddard's statement and started to drain out of the great hall, then Eddard stood on the high table surprising the elders, he then spoke once again "but before you leave, I have something to say" his voice stopped them all from leaving and focused their attention back to Eddard, "I do not say this to stop you from leaving, you may leave here with what you possessed before and after you came here, I will not stop you" Eddard's face became marred with disgust that made some of villagers flinch in fear "I will however tell you the truth of what your so-called elders have been telling you" the crowd began to whisper in confusion, "they says that you are in capable of fighting this war and are better of staying in your villages to farm and fish, never mind the Dothraki and their ways, mourn your dead and lost as anything you do will only lead to more suffering" the elders start to grunt and growl with rage at implication, but are silenced when Eddard speaks again "that is how I found you!, scared suffering and weak! You were nothing more than sheep meant for slaughter except you walked on two legs and lived in huts that were little better than holes in the ground, you had the tools to fight yet your elders have told you all to run and hide from the Dothraki!" some of the men in the crowd clinched their jaws and listened closer to Eddard's words "look at yourselves now, you no longer labor on the fields for what little grow on this barren plain, you no longer ration your food for it to last the rest of the year, you no longer shiver in the night when the cold wind seeps into you huts, you no longer drink diseased and muddy water, you no longer bare the stench a of shit and piss wherever you eat and sleep" the crowds started to lower their gaze in shame and hide their faces from Eddard's rant "how many of your babes have died during the winter, how many of them run and play in the streets that don't turn to mud when it rains, how many of your son and daughters have sang smiled and laughed freely without a care in the world, never fearing if they would be dragged away to be sold to a life of slavery and rape, how many of your husbands, wives, fathers mothers, friends and family have taken their own life, unable to live it a day longer in the condensations your elders wish to return you to!", now everyone in the crowd looked up at Eddard with wide eyes at the sudden realization, "now they tell you that if you fought the Dothraki you will be defeated and destroyed like all the mongrels that tried", "how dare you us calls mongrels" an elder shouted at Eddard trying to turn the tide, earning him nods and yells of agreement with the other elders, but not the villagers behind them "YOU ARE ALL DOGS TO ME!" Eddard shouted again, his voice more vicious than before "every single one of you are less than a woman from the North!, at least a northern girl would fight with all she has before she is killed and raped" the elders now erupted in shouts and screams "DON'T LISTEN TO THIS DEMON!", "YOU'RE A MONSTER!", "STAY HERE AND DIE THEN YOU ANIMAL!" Eddard allowed them to spew their insults at him, "GO HOME BARBARIAN", he was waiting for someone to say what he needed to hear "FIGHT THIS WAR YOURSELF!", "SO BE IT!" Eddard finally yelled out "IF YOU WILL NOT FIGHT FOR ME, THEN BE BE GONE!" Everyone was shocked at Eddard's declaration "I WILL BUILD MY KINGDOM ON THE CORPSES OF THIS KHALSAR, WITH YOU!, OR WITH YOU" the great hall fell silent the men and women that occupied it once again looked at their feet in shame and sorrow, Eddard drew a deep breath and shouted one last time "GO!, GO BACK TO THE MUD AND MUCK, BUT BEFORE YOU LEAVE HERE TODAY TAKE THE ARMOR I HAD MADE FOR YOU, SO WHEN YOUR EATING THE SMALL PORTIONS OF FILTH THAT YOU'VE SCRAPED TOGETHER, WHEN YOUR CHILDREN ARE BEING RAPED AND TAKEN FOR SLAVE , WHEN YOU FINALLY WORK UP WHAT LITTLE COURAGE YOU HAVE LEFT TO TAKE YOUR OWN LIFE, LOOK UPON THAT ARMOR!, SO YOU MAY REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO LIVE AS A MAN, SO YOU YOU NEVER FORGET THAT FOR ONE BRIEF MOMENT, YOU WERE A SOLDIERS OF MY KINGDOM!" without another word Eddard jumped down the table and walked through the crowd, they parted away from Eddard as if he were some dangerous beast, they all looked away and did not meet his eyes for fear his gaze might kill them, the same happened to the people outside the great hall, none dare stand in his way, Eddard was heading to the forge but before he could reach it the ground rumble ninetieth him as thousands of men ran to him and fell on their knees and begged Eddard "forgiveness us Lord Wolf!", "we will fight for you Wolf Lord!", "I well not leave you, Wolf Lord!", "please do not send us away", grown men and women wept and groveled at his feet, they held out their hands to wards Eddard who took them, they place their hands on Eddard arms, legs torso and shoulders as if he were a god made flesh, weeping as they did and proclaiming their loyalty.

"I WILL NOT TAKE YOU BACK SO EASILY!"Eddard shouted which made the teary eyed Essosi erupt in please for a chance to do so, Eddard raised his hand and stilled the crowd, "YOU MUST SHOW TO ME YOU HAVE SHED YOUR FEARS AND AND PROVE TO ME YOUR LOYALTY!" Eddard looked around and saw his target "BRING ME THE ELDERS WHO HAVE LIED TO YOU!" the crowd started to wreath like stormy seas as men shouted for the elders to be brought before Eddard, moments later all twenty elders were bond and dragged at Eddard's feet, he looked at the shacking elderly faces of men and women who made up the council, and with a calm voice he said "shed their blood and your past"

"HAVE YOU ALL GONE MAD!" "HE'S A DEMON!" "YOU FOOLS!" "AAAAHHH" were the final words of the few that weren't gagged, then after their bodies stopped moving Eddard dipped his right hand in the blood and said "WITH THIS YOU ARE ALL MY CITIZENS" the crowds cheer was deafening and the fortress rocked with their jumping in joy "GO TO YOUR STATIONS AND DUTIES, WE SHALL WAIT FOR THE DOTHRAKI TO COME AND WE SHALL BE READY!"

the crowd cheered even louder and scramble to theirs places, Eddard went inside his office, behind his dick he saw Iggar propping up his chin with his knuckles, at his side was Edmyne with narrowed eyes and tight features, a dozen veterans also leaned against the wall in fully armed and armored and finally Willis stood their with a smirk on his face, only one thing came to Eddard's mind as he looked down at the twenty elders dead and face down in the yard. "I love democracy"