They had been Beyond the Wall for only a minutes when the procession had met up with a red-haired and bearded wildling who Jon Snow seemed to know. "So, this is the sister fucker I've heard about" he had said when the King introduced him. Sister fucker That was what these people knew of him. He had had to send a glare towards his officer's when some of then laughed at that comment. He was just happy that Brienne was not here to hear that, while she knew the sordid details of his affair with Cersei, he knew it hurt her whenever it was brought up.
The King had sent Brienne away when they crossed the fork in the King's Road that either continued to Castle Black or veered left onwards to Winterfell. He had claimed that he didn't want his plans to get into the wrong hands, but Jaime expected there was more to than that. He had only ever met Jon Snow once before, before he had joined the Night's Watch, and he had been broody and mopey then, but now he seemed worse. He imagined that something had happened to make the King act this way. Ser Davos was taking special care to not let anything bother the King as they rode north, and now that they were beyond the wall, he had only gotten worse.
They had given dragon-glass weapons when they arrived at the wall, given to them by Northern and Night's Watch soldiers. If this was a ruse, has his sister and his officers expected, then it was one of the most well thought out and elaborate ruses in the history of Westeros. Thinking of his sister made him darken, he had been upset when she refused to send aid to the North and had been even worse when he learned of how the Sept of Baelor had been destroyed, and even now, having made his choice, it was still difficult.
"How far do we have to go before we get far enough in to see them get resurrected?" Jaime asked after they had entered the forested area right ahead of the wall. He had grown more and more nervous after the signs of battle, trees toppled over, and burned grass and the like. He had heard tales of the massive battle between the Night's Watch and the large Wildling army that had tried to come over the wall, and that it had been Stannis Baratheon who had truly stopped the Wildlings from coming over the wall.
"Were going to go to the center of where Mance Rayder's army was encamped. When Stannis attacked, I told him to burn the bodies, but I'm betting that some were missed"
"Our people were also burning the dead King Crow" came the voice of the wildling chief who had called Jaime a sister fucker "We know the price of not making sure that everyone gets burned". Ser Davos had told Jaime on the trip that the Free Folk, as the King and his Hand of the King called them, had spent the better part of the last years running from the Night King. He knew his officers had scoffed at that, as they had told him before they had left, this was just an excuse to get him to come North and kill him for what he had done to the Starks. It didn't matter that the Starks were supposedly some of the most honorable of the noble houses of Westeros.
They came across a small clearing in the forest, where there was little sign of the battle that surrounded the clearing. Jaime Lannister ordered his men to begin setting up camp, as did the King in the North. "Keep the body in in the middle of the clearing and have one of your men watch it at all times, I'll post one of my men as well" King Jon ordered. He had gotten good at giving orders, so unlike the bastard boy who had skulked in the corner that he had been.
They made a fire and huddled up close to it to stay warm. Despite the cloaks and the winter clothes they had been given, it was still the coldest that Jaime could remember, and based on the looks of his southern soldiers, it was for them as well. Bronn, looked to be taking it, while not in stride, better than the rest of them. He asked Bronn how he was staying warm, and the man just produced a glass bottle of some sort of ale. That was typical, and Jaime should have expected it.
He turned his head to look upon the King in the North, who had the cloak pulled around him as did the rest of his northern and wildling soldiers. "You never did answer my question" Jaime said, with a mixture of actually wanting to know, and simply to make conversation so make the night come faster.
The King looks at him like he's crazy "What question Ser Jaime?" he asks.
He didn't remember, what was it with kings being so forgetful all the time? "How does a Stark become both King in the North and the King Beyond the Wall?" He had never heard of the Wildlings bowing before a king that wasn't a wildling, and the Northerners wouldn't have liked that their king was also king of the people that they had been keeping out of the North for thousands of years.
The King looks contemplative for a moment, as if he is thinking of the best way to actually answer the question "First off, I'm not a Stark, Eddard Stark was not my father, rather Rhaegar Targaryen was my father, Lyanna Stark was my mother" the king lets that hang in the air for a bit, and Jaime fills a pang of fear envelope him. Another Targaryen king sits before him, the last time he had seen a Targaryen king had been when Aerys II had been ranting about burning down King's Landing. He had killed that one to ensure that that wouldn't happen. Jon Snow did not seem as though he the ability to do that, and the way he had said it, made it seem like he was disappointed in his parentage.
"Eddard Stark lied? To the whole realm? For that long?" to Jaime that's the biggest news of all of this. He didn't know that the honorable Eddard Stark had it in him to lie to everyone for that long or to even lie to his wife and his best friend.
A dark chuckle comes from the king "Yes, he lied to protect me from King Robert" Jon Snow looks down to his gloved hands, and wrings them "To answer the rest of your questions, I became King in the North after the Lords named me it after the War of the Bastards" Jaime had heard little of that war, it being so far north, and his and Cersei's attention focused on consolidating her power closer to home first, but from what he had heard, the Vale had declared for Jon Snow and had joined his newly resurrected Kingdom of the North. "The Free Folk don't bow"
"Aye, we don't not like you bleedin' kneelers do, we choose our kings" Tormund agreed from the right of Jon Snow "When Jon Snow let us over the Wall to get us away from the Night King, he earned our loyalty, and then he fought his own people to give us a place to live, if that doesn't make him our king, I don't know what does"
So that answered his questions at least, Jon Snow had become king, not based on his blood, well that probably had a bit to do with it in him becoming King in the North, but it was largely based on his ability to bring peoples together. And if the legends of the Night King proved to be true, then they would all be lucky that they had thrown their support behind Jon Snow.
The sun slowly set, and when the moon stood at its zenith, he began to doubt if it was going to happen. "My Lord!" came a cry from one of his soldiers, he turned around and looked at the red armored soldier who stood pointing at the ground where the dead body they had brought was moving, and its eyes were blue. He stood and drew his blade, Widow's Wale, as did Jon Snow. It was true, Jaime thought, its true. A yelp of surprise made him look towards the source, and he realized that a dozen blue eyes were staring at them from all directions of the clearing.
Brienne of Tarth appeared in the Great Hall as the Stark's and their bannermen supped. She didn't pay attention to any of the other people, or the Starks as she walked up to the central seat where Sansa sat in place of Jon. She handed her a rolled-up piece of parchment, with a mud seal of the Stark dire wolf sigil. The solemn look on Lady Brienne made Sansa open it quickly, and her expression fell in worry. Robb wondered what it was, very little made this new Sansa's armor of ice crack, and this had to be bad. She quickly regained her composure, but the worried look remained in her eyes, and he knew that he wasn't the only one who noticed. His mother, who sat on the left of Ned Stark was studying her daughter. They had all been worried about Sansa the last few days, she hadn't been eating, and had been locked up in her solar, working to prepare Winterfell and the North for the Night King.
He had tried to apologize, to tell her he hadn't meant those things he had said about her, and while she had accepted and understood why he felt the way he did, he needed to know that she and Jon had never really been brother and sister, not really, not the way that Robb and Arya had been with him. She had also told him that they didn't truly love each other, and that this was a necessary match to keep the North united. She had also demanded that he apologize to Jon. He had agreed to it but didn't know if he could bring himself to look at him. Jon was going to marry his sister, and was that no better than what the Lannisters did?
He was brought back to the present, as their dinner concluded, and they stood and went to the solar. Sansa was clenching the parchment tightly to her chest as they walked back, and Robb was surprised to find that Lady Brienne had already fallen in behind of Sansa, she had just returned from a journey and immediately takes over protecting Sansa, that was some dedication to her vows, and his previous anger towards her began to melt. Yes, she had stolen away with Jaime Lannister, but his mother, the person she was sworn to had ordered it. They were guided into the solar and the took the seats that they had been sitting in since the return. Sansa paced back and forth. What's got her worried so? Her father finally asked, "What is it?"
Fear and anger had taken root in Sansa since she read the letter at dinner, and with a final huff, she brought it up and began reading it "Dear Sansa, I have met with Jaime Lannister, and I have accepted his offer of assistance to aid us in our war with the Night King. However, his officers need proof of the threat. We are now going beyond the wall to show him the threat of the Night King." A pang of concern rushed through Robb as he heard Jon's message. Jon was King, he should be sending others to do these sorts of jobs, but then, that was never Jon's way, he would rather risk himself than his men. Robb couldn't blame him, when he had been in his position, he had often led risky scouting missions and such, even though it had driven mother and his bannermen mad.
He vaguely hears Sansa call for Brienne to go and summon Samwell Tarly, Samwell had been a brother of the Night's Watch, and had apparently become close friends with Jon. He had apparently married a wildling girl and was raising her son as his. Robb couldn't tell if that was honorable or not, and didn't feel like asking his father, who had lied to all of them about Jon. They wait a few minutes for the large man to arrive, and when he does, he can see that the cold isn't doing any favors for him, his face is splotched in red. "You called for me Lady Sansa?" he asks quickly, his eyes do not linger on any of them, but lingers for a second longer on Lady Catelyn. Probably because of all of things that Jon had told him.
His sister looks at Samwell pointedly "San we've talked about this, you don't have to call me Lady when were in private"
Samwell smiles, and replies "Thank you Sansa, what do you require?"
She holds up the letter that Jon had sent "Jon's go beyond the wall to convince Jaime Lannister to help us, he's brought a considerable army north"
To his surprise, Samwell nods his head as she speaks "Yes Jon told me of the Lannister army" Did Jon tell this Samwell things before his own family? Of course, the last time he had seen Jon, there hadn't been a lot of talking among each other. He hears Sansa ask him how would Jon prove it, and Samwell answers her "The only way to prove it is to go find one, or to wait and see if any come back to life when the Night King calls them" He stops talking for a moment, catching his breath and then continues "They could be taking a dead person up there, to get them to become reanimated, so that way Jon would have his proof before having to enter into the Night King's territory, that would be probably be the way I would do it" he finishes.
Bran speaking for the first time says in his emotionless voice "All of the lands beyond the wall are the Night King's now". They all looked to Bran, who sat in his wheelchair by the window. Bran's changes had worried him, it really unnerved him when he said that he was no longer Brandon Stark and was instead the Three Eye Raven. He didn't know what that meant, and his enquiries with the others showed that they didn't know either "I will keep watch on him" He watched Sansa stand as she went towards the window and stood in front of Bran and she whispered something in his hear, something that Robb couldn't make out.
She stood and came back "Thank you Sam for coming, there wasn't anyway to prove it without going on the other side of the wall was there?"
Samwell just shook his head, and Sansa smiled at him and thanked him for his efforts. After that the family broke up, his mother and father off to pray in the Godswood, Arya off to wherever she went, while Rickon went and caught up on his studies that he had missed during his time on the run. Robb went and took a walk on the battlements, watching the towns peoples of Wintertown get ready for the upcoming winter, and watched the smoke of the fires billow into the sky from the army camps gathered around the city. Watching the army camp of northerners and wildlings took him back to the days of the War of the Five Kings, where Robb often tried to make things easier on his men, he tried to share in their hardship as he thought Lord Eddard Stark would have. He thought of Talissa and their child and wished and prayed for them to come back like he had. But something told him that that wish would not be fulfilled. Robb wished that he had won the War of the Five Kings, wished that he had done so many things differently. If he hadn't gone back to the Twins, then maybe he would have been able to win the war, and they would have been so much more prepared for this threat than they were. Jon and Sansa wouldn't have been in this position they were in. The sound of horse's hooves hitting the mud drew him out of his introspection, and looked to the gate, where several men wearing the banners of the Greyjoy's stood.
Seeing the Greyjoy banner made his blood boil, and he rushed down off the battlements and back into the courtyard, where he ran into Arya and another man, this one with blue eyes, dark short hair. Arya looks angry and she looks up at Robb and the other man "It's fucking Theon" she breathes out. Theon had once been of his closest friends, a brother, but he had betrayed the Starks, and had helped burn Winterfell.
Theon Greyjoy stood out like a sore thumb among his men, he had always been lanky, but he looked worse than the last time Robb had seen him. He gazed around Winterfell and its inhabitants before falling on the three of them, his face contorted into horror and confusion as he looked at Robb, Theon even rubbed his eyes and looked back up, and when Robb was still standing there, he awkwardly began to walk over. About halfway there Robb held up an open hand "Why are you here Theon?" he sputtered out, anger that he had tried to keep down the last few weeks clearly coming through.
Theon stopped and looked down at his boots "I'm here to see Lady Sansa, to make sure that it's truly her and that she's safe". He was here to see Sansa, what the fuck? He had never seemed interested in Sansa, and he would die before he let this turncoat touch his sister.
"Aye, she's here, and she's safe." Robb answers him but does not move aside. The other soldiers who had been milling about have gathered around. Many of them look at the Greyjoys like potential invaders and have their hands on the pommel of their swords, so does Robb. "Why have you come?" Robb asks again.
"My sister, the Queen of the Iron Islands, allowed me to come to Winterfell to aid you in your battle against the Long Night" Theon answers, he looks pitiful. He came here to help? The last time Robb had sent him somewhere, his capital burned, and two of his three brothers hand been thought killed. No, Robb wouldn't let Theon help.
"Like how I sent you to get aid from your family at Pyke?" Theon looks hurt at that, and Robb continues "I don't think I will allow you to help us-" he's cut off by a flash of crimson, as Sansa Stark arrives. She stands in the middle of the two of them, with Brienne and Podrick standing with her.
"Theon Greyjoy, welcome back to Winterfell" she says breathlessly. She takes a moment to gather her breath and says "We will of course accept your help" she shoots a look at Robb "And we will of course accept your Queen's offer of aid" Theon looks relieved as Podrick goes over to figure out where everyone will be staying. Sansa turns to him and gestures for him to talk on the side. "Please be proper to Theon" she asks him. He must not do a good enough job of hiding emotions, because she grabs his hands and says in a quiet, yet commanding voice "He helped me Robb, please, I'll tell you more when Jon comes back" the pleading in her eye's soften Robb's heart, and seeing where being mad and yelling at his family gets him, and he softens himself, he will have to avoid Theon for the time being, and gets back inside of the Great Keep.
Jon slashes through one of the wights, and watched has it exploded into a thousand pieces, dozens of wights had charged into the clearing. This whole expedition was no engaged in fighting. Jon turned to look at another who had come at him with a spear, which he sidestepped and threw Longclaw into it's side. He turned to get an idea of what was going on, his guard were holding out spectacularly well, while the Lannister officers were not. He realizes with a groan, they're not using the dragon glass "Use the dragon glass!" he roars, and he continues to yell it as he moves towards the Lannister's.
Jaime Lannister is the only one so far to best his opponent, and he assumes that makes some sort of sense, as Jaime had been hailed as the greatest swordsmen of his age, and while he had slowed down considerably with his left hand, he was still performing better than expected against the wights. Jon threw himself back into the fray, slashing through two of the wights, and he parries the strike of another wight. There had to have been dozens of them streaming into the clearing. He pushes himself up to Jaime Lannister who has just felled another wight "Is this enough proof for you?" he yells over the screams of battle.
Jaime Lannister yells back "Yes, I think it is!" he looks back towards the wall "We need to get out of here".
Jon simply nods his head at that and begins barking orders "We need to get back to the wall!" he sees Davos also begin relaying his orders to the men, who slowly attempt begin a fighting retreat to the Wall. It would be a long run, as Jon knew well from when he had made it during the Wildling assault on the wall.
A blade grazes Jon's forehead and he yelps out a yell and is thrown back onto the ground, Jaime Lannister is there and kills the wight, as Jon forces himself off the snowy ground. Blood floods his vision and he brings up his left hand to try to stop the bleeding. Looking up, he sees that the enemy as slowed down their assault for a moment, but the blue eyes continue to look at them from the north of the clearing. "We have to get out of here" he repeats, and then they take off running. He doesn't know what happened to the horses but assumes that they were either spooked or killed during the initial battle.
The cold air burns his lungs as they do, and he only hears the slapping of their boots hitting the icy ground for a moment. Jon hopes that his men at the front of the wall are prepared to withstand an assault from the White Walkers, because this could be the start of the attack. He thought it was weird for there to be no more evidence of the undoubtedly large army that the Night King was forming.
To his front, his soldiers are harassed by the white walkers, they have somehow gotten on their flank, and are now rushing out and crashing into the soldiers, one tries to tackle Jon, but he dives to the ground, stands quickly, turns around and plunges Longclaw into the wight before it is able to bring it's ice blade up. He turns to run, but catches sight of Jaime Lannister, who is laying on his back struggling with a wight, Jon advances on it and kills the wight, and holds out his hand to Jaime. Jaime looks at him a moment with a glance that says he can't believe that Jon has saved him but takes the bloody hand.
Jaime is barking orders at his men to stop fighting and only fight to defend themselves and others, otherwise, their only hope is to get back to the Wall. Davos, who had a large gash on his cheek, and they are off running again. It was as Jaime said, they could only hope to survive was if they got to the Wall. The din of battle wanes in his ears as Jon wills himself to run harder than he ever had before, they needed to get to the wall, he needed to get back to Winterfell and to make his peace with Robb, to spend time with Arya and his family again. To marry Sansa. A flash of crimson comes across his vision.
They come out of the forest, and he runs a nearly twenty paces before he stops and turns, breathing hard, and waiting to see if the wights come out. Jaime Lannister, Tormund, and Davos come up alongside him, as does most of the group that had entered the forest. The blue eyes of the White Walkers stop at the edge of the forest, but they do not come out. Why? They had them right where they wanted, they could kill them and be gone before anyone on the Wall had a chance to respond. He doesn't know, but he thanks the old gods for their mercy tonight, he didn't know if he could continue running like they had been.
The procession is rushed back into Castle Black, and Jon finds himself in the room where he had been named the Lord Commander. Sitting at the head of the table next to him is Ed Tollett, and the others. "Ser Jaime, is our experiences enough cause for you join us?" Ser Davos asks Jaime from his side of the table.
Jaime Lannister looks troubled and seems to be searching for words to describe what just happened. "I had hoped you were lying" he admitted. A part of Jon also wished that he could lie about the White Walkers to lure his enemies north, as the reality was far worse "I'll do you one better though" Jaime says with the hubris and self-assuredness that he had had when he had first met the Kingslayer when King Robert visited Winterfell all of those years ago "I swear fealty" Ser Jaime kneels "On the names of the New and the Old gods, that I will serve you, King Jon, from this day until my last day"
Jon shared a glance with Davos before standing "I accept your oath, rise Ser Jaime, and ready your men, we will leave in the morning for Winterfell"
A/N: Well a bit of a shorter chapter with this one, I hope you enjoyed it. Also I saw jean d'arc's comments about Davos seeming petty in the last chapter, and while I can understand why you would come to that conclusion, that wasn't my intent, Davos is Jon's Hand of the King, and he needs to be on the look out for threats to Jon's political power, and Robb and Ned most certainly are threats. Just wanted to clear that up.