The morning came and after his second restful sleep in many days Ned joined his Father at breakfast table with a quiet 'good morning'. They ate in silence, his Father eyes are bloodshot and had bags under them. It seems his Lord Father didn't have a restful night. They just looked at each other for awhile, Father signalled the men that the room should be secured, after it was cleared of everyone else Frost and Ironeyes padded into the room on silent feet, still the Father and son duo remained silent, when finally Father sighed and said, " I have considered your plan for the future and I approve of it. So why don't you suggest what you have in mind for the rescue".

Ned bowed his head in gratitude and replied, " Thank you, Father. With your arrival here, we have saved fourteen to fifteen days of time. We will take a river boat from here, the horses will have to be left behind, we will travel down the Trident to Maidenpool, which will take two days, at Maidenpool we will buy new horses and journey to Duskendale, it is very likely an army is gathered outside of it and the gates will be closed and Dun Fort will be locked tight. Our party will join the Lords and soldiers already gathered. The Crannogmen will remain hidden, nobody but us should know they were even there. First and obvious thing to do is scouting using Warging, that is why we need crannogmen hidden, nobody should suspect us of magic, objectives of scouting are as follows: location of the King and number of guards who are keeping him hostage, guard rotations and number of guards in the barracks, layout of the castle. And one very important thing we need to be on the lookout for, secret passages. Every castle has at least one secret exit. However secured and fortified a castle is, at least one of its Lords gets paranoid and builds a secret exit, we have Seers and Wargs on our side, it is very possible at least one of us will stumble upon it, then we will have an easy in. Since Duskendale is near the sea the passage will probably lead into a seaside hidden cove, so we should definitely search there for it. We will take three days to scout. If a secret passage isn't found then things get harder, either way one of the crannogmen will have to infiltrate the castle kitchens and drug the guards food with a slow acting soporific, because on the fourth day when we start the operation I don't want any guards awake or able enough to fight us, whether the Lords, ladies and servants are awake and alert doesn't really matter. It is guards and soldiers who do the fighting, if they are asleep at their posts then there isn't any true threat. All of this depends on the crannogmen and them being what I think they are. Shall we ask them then?"

" We shall, Ned", then Father called the gaurd outside the door to send Lord Howland Reed in.

Howland Reed entered the room with his good down, this is the first time Ned has seen his face, he is of age with Ned but half a head shorter, he is a small man, with red hair cut short and luminous moss green eyes, he bowed on nearing them, " Lord Stark, Lord Eddard"

" Join us at the table, Lord Howland, my son has some questions for you", his Father invited.

" What is that you wish to ask me, Lord Eddard?", Howland asked softly.

" First, I insist you call me Ned, Lord Howland. Crannogmen have been the Starks most loyal vassals, in the harshest of Winters and longest summers you have stood beside Starks through the millennia, if you allow it, I will call you a friend", Ned said sincerely.

" You honor me, Lord Eddard, if i am to call, Ned, then you must call me Howland and I will be glad to call you a friend", Howland answered.

" Very well, Howland, how did you know to come to the Moat and meet my father?"

" Was there ever a time when a Stark has a need of us and a Reed didn't answer? Most Seers and Wargs congregate at Greywater Watch and any Greendreams they have are recorded and immediately sent to Lord Reed, my father. If multiple people receive the same vision then deciphering that vision becomes paramount, near twenty days ago almost every Seer had the same vision of an young iron grey wolf with grey eyes howled with urgency and an young lizard lion with four shadows came running along with mother wolf. It doesn't take much to decipher the meaning", Howland replied with a smile.

" But how did you know to meet me here?", Ned asked.

" Ah, Berek probably hasn't gotten to this, he was never really comfortable with this aspect of magic, the Weirwoods see all, when we say they witness everything, it was literally said. They see past, present and future all at once, Greenseers who are trained can tap into this collection of knowledge, Children of the Forest can speak with them, ask questions and get answers, but Wargs and Seers, they don't have the power of Greenseers nor the language of Children, so they started to do something else. They started to offer blood, their own, Old Gods aren't bloodthirsty they don't really need our blood for power, they want it for connection, all they can show easily they already do through Greendreams, but if we insist on having our questions answered then they create a makeshift connection through blood to answer. There is a different reason why normal men and women started offering sacrifices to the Old Gods, but that is not relevant. I offered why own blood to the Old Gods and asked 'where and when does Eddard Stark needs me to meet him and where is Rickard Stark' and they showed my possible meetings with you two. And I made those possibilities reality by journeying to meet both of you", Howland replied.

" So you don't even know why you insisted that I meet my son here?", Rickard asked incredulously.

" Of course I don't, Lord Stark, I even said so didn't I, that your son will explain everything, hasn't he done so?", Howland questioned innocuously.

" Yes, he did ", Father muttered faintly.

" So what is it that you want my help with, Ned ", Howland asked turning to him.

Ned suppressed his impulse to smile on hearing Father's muttering and said, " I remember an old story told by my nursemaid, that old Kings of Winter had a contingent of crannogmen assassins and saboteurs working for them, is this story true and if so do they still exist , Howland?"

" It is true and they do exist. They are called Shadows, Ned", Howland replied smiling.

" What?!", Father nearly shouted, " Why is this the first time I am hearing of this ? "

" Because King Torrhen Stark ordered Shadows to do their duty as they have always done, from the shadows and only reveal their existence to their keepers House Reed and when asked by their Lords, the Starks. Nobody was ever supposed to know they even existed with the exception of Lord Stark and Lord Reed. But somehow word of their existence got out, King Torrhen didn't want the Targaryens to get paranoid about the Starks having specifically trained professional assassins at their beck and call, as once word of Shadows got out every murder and accidental death of Lord will be blamed on Starks, so he didn't share the secret of Shadows existence with his family and whenever they came up, he played it as a joke, an exaggerated story and in few years everyone believed him. In his final days the King assigned targets for Shadows to watch and if their targets ever became true threats to House Stark they are to be eliminated ", Howland replied

" Who are these targets and how are they watching their targets? Crannogmen are easily identifiable, how could they stay hidden? ", Father asked.

" There have never been more than seven Shadows, every Shadow has an apprentice who will take over after them. The targets assigned from King Torrhens time are House Bolton, House Karstark, House Greyjoy or Whoever has the control of Iron Islands, House Tully or whoever has control of Riverlands, House Arryn or Whoever is in control of Vale, House Lannister or Whoever is in control of Westerlands. As for how they monitor these enemies that's rather simple, whenever they are not training their skills they meditate before a Heart tree and Warg into their Familiar that they always keep near their assigned targets. Most Wargs cannot reach through their bonds at those distances on their own, they need boost of a Weirwood."

" You are telling me that, Starks have a spy on Tywin Lannister for years," Ned asked.

" Yes, but the Shadows don't report to House Reed, we only support them, only Lord Stark can ask them questions", Howland replied and turned towards Father.

Ned too turned towards Father, he seemed to be in deep thought, after awhile he asked, " Where are these Shadows now? "

" Four of them accompanied me here, I do not know whom they are assigned to, that information too is only shared with Lord Stark", Howland replied.

" Very well, call them in ", Father commanded

Howland returned with his companions, they kept their hoods up, when Ned took a closer look they had masks made out of Weirwood, as soon as they neared the table, the dropped to one knee and bowed deeply and said in unison, " King Stark, command us "

" Rise, why do you call me King, I am no such thing ", Father asked.

" We swore no vows to any King except to Kings of Winter, only throne that we answer to is the Throne of Winter, only King we serve is King in the North whose name is Stark", they replied in unison.

" Lord Stark will suffice, and you will address me as such from now on, won't you tell me your names, show your faces and tell who your targets are", Father asked wearily.

" We will do everything you asked, but only to you, Lord Stark. As it has been for thousands of years, since founding of our order, only ruling Stark and our sworn brothers and sisters may know our faces, our names and our assignments and none other. Please do not command us to do so in the presence of others", the apparent spokesperson of the four said softly.

" Very well, I won't. You will give a status report on your Order later then, my son has some questions regarding your skillsets, answer as truthfully as you can", Father commanded.

" We will ", they spokesperson replied and turned to Ned.

A small smile crept across Neds face, " Tell me, how good are you at infiltration "

" We are the best in Westeros and second only to Faceless men,that too only because we couldn't figure out their magic"

" Can you make a slow acting soporific and make enough of it put about five hundred guards to sleep?"

" We know the recipe to make such a sleeping draught, it can be made from commonly available herbs, but we will need to make a lot of it before concentrating it to a easily carried form. That will take time"

" How good are you at Warging?"

" We might not have as much as raw power as you, but our control is almost perfect, we can Warg for an hour without any great strain and we can will ourselves to have familiar dreams and memorize everything we saw in that state"

" Excellent", the small smile grew wider and wider on Neds face.

He explained his plan and asked whether it could be done, the answer was an yes, two of them will scout and other two will make the drug. On the fourth day when their preparations are done the King will be rescued.

The King will be out of Duskendale by the seventeenth day of his imprisonment.