As Ned promised, by the dawn the King's army occupied Duskendale and Lord Denys, his family and retainers are in chains. And the guards and soldiers of Duskendale are disarmed. Before the King passed the sentence Rhaegar and the King convened privately. Ned suggested to Rhaegar to claim Duskendale and it's land for House Targaryen so that Prince Viserys will have lands of his own when he came to majority and have the choice of the Wall given to men who are not main perpetrators of the incident and a choice of septs to the women.
The King and the Prince remained behind closed doors for more than an hour before coming out and declared the sentence. House Darklyn was attainted, their ancestral seat and lands claimed by the Crown. Lord Denys Darklyn, his wife Lady Serala, Ser Jon Hollard and squire Robin Hollard were sentenced to death by hanging as common criminals, instead of being beheaded as Lords and Ladies. House Hollard is attainted and their castle and lands given to House Rykker. Every man of those Houses are sentenced to the Wall disregarding age and every female to join Silent Sisters.
Ned thought the King will give out harsher punishments, demanding death of every member of those Houses, perhaps Rhaegar talked him down from it, Ned will find out later, he supposes.
The King summoned Ned after the sentences were given out.
" Lord Eddard, I was told that you are the reason my rescue became even possible, that it was your direwolf who found the secret passage. Ask what you want for this service and you will have it", the King commanded.
" Your Grace, I did my duty. Ensuring your well being isn't just a duty, the Prince is my friend, and he loves you dearly, I will do anything for survival and happiness of my family and friends. I am just glad that I could be of service, I neither expect nor want any reward", Ned replied with a bow.
" Be that as it may, you did House Targaryen and I a great service and such service cannot go unrewarded. No need for modesty, ask and you shall have it, your King commands it", the King said.
Ned had a feeling, he took a gamble, " As you command, Your Grace, I want you to consider a marriage alliance between our Houses, Your Grace. Between Prince Rhaegar and my sister Lyanna. I am not asking for the betrothal, but I am asking to consider the proposal. This doesn't come from my Lord Father, Your Grace, Prince Rhaegar is a good man and I believe he will be a good husband, and that they will make each other happy. If you deem this match unworthy, then I beg your forgiveness for presuming too much", Ned replied with a bow.
" I wanted a Valyrian blooded wife for Rhaegar", the King said in a queer tone, his face was unreadable.
" Then forgive me for the presumption, Your Grace, it was done out of ignorance", Ned said softly bowing.
" There are no full blooded Valyrian brides in Seven Kingdoms, I thought to send my friend Steffon to Volantis in search of a proper bride for my son. But Valyrian blood doesn't mean Dragon blood and Stark name is second only to Targaryen name in prestige. Summon the Prince", the King ordered the Kingsguard. The Prince arrived in ten minutes, during this time the King paced around muttering inaudibly.
Once the Prince arrived the King said, " Ah, Rhaegar, Lord Eddard proposed a marriage alliance. His sister for you, what do you think?"
At that Rhaegar turned to Ned with eyes widened before narrowing them and said, " I am agreeable to such a match, Your Grace"
At that the King paced some more and turned suddenly and declared, " Then I have decided, Rhaegar will wed Lyanna Stark once she reaches majority "
" As you command, your grace", said the Prince.
" Thank you, Your Grace ", Ned said with a bow.
" You both are dismissed, I will speak with Lord Rickard and finalize the betrothal ".
Rhaegar and Ned left the room together.
" How long have you been thinking of this, Ned? " , Rhaegar asked as they walked.
" Since judging you to be a good man. The plan was to ask you first, I had guessed you would be amiable to it, if you approved then a letter from my Father would have come to the King proposing the match in two years time, but then this disaster happened. Even then I wasn't ready to ask just yet, but when the King commanded I ask a boon, I had a gut feeling and took a gamble. I am sorry, Rhaegar for going behind your back on this ", Ned said guiltily.
Rhaegar remained silent for a while before saying, " You guessed right, I would have said yes, if you had asked. I have thought of it myself. But your gamble has certainly paid off"
" Yes it did", Ned replied with a smile.
Ned waited for his father, who had gone to meet the King hours ago.
When he finally returned Ned pounced on him with questions, " What took so long? Has the King changed his mind? Is the the betrothal confirmed?"
" Yes, it is done, Son. It will be kept quiet for two more years yet. But we have finalised the betrothal. The King seemed pleased with the match and very impressed with you ", Father said in an unreadable tone.
Ned remained silent for awhile and said in a tiny voice, sounding like the boy he is, " Father, am I right in the things I have done? Am I true to Stark name ? "
Father put a hand on Ned shoulder, squeezed it and said, " You are true Stark, son, never doubt that "
Father and Son remained silent after that.
A day after that Rhaegar and Ned took a walk on the beach in compainable silence for a while, Ser Arthur followed behind them, Rhaegar said, " My father is going to dismiss Lord Tywin as Hand on returning to Kingslanding. And appoint Steffon Baratheon to the post "
" I guessed as much ", Ned replied nodding.
" Lord Tywin won't be happy and once he hears about the betrothal he will be even more infuriated. I fear my father has made an enemy out of Tywin Lannister", Rhaegar confided.
" I fear the King made an enemy out of Lord Tywin when he rejected his betrothal proposal in such an insulting manner ", Ned replied.
" There has to be something that could placate him. Any ideas ? ", Rhaegar asked.
" There isn't, not unless you married Cersei Lannister and he was renamed Hand of the King. That man wants his blood on the throne and him the power behind the throne. Nothing less will truly placate him. Even if Viserys was betrothed to Cersei he won't be placated. He will just have you removed and place Viserys on the throne", Ned said somberly.
" So he is an enemy ", Rhaegar said with a sigh.
" Yes, he is. One another thing Rhaegar, I have come to a bit of information. The only one Grand Maester Pycelle serves is Lord Tywin. That information sheds a different light on the Queen's difficult childbirths, doesn't it? ", Ned asked.
The Prince whirled around towards Ned and demanded with beginnings of anger in his voice, " Are you suggesting that my mother's difficulties are due to the Maester and he did it on Tywin's orders ?"
" I do not know. One thing I know with certainty, I shared. Pycelle is Lord Tywin's man through and through. Everything else is speculation on my part. But you have a Maester whom you trust now. Why not check to make sure? " , Ned asked.
" I will ", Rhaegar replied before continuing to walk.
" I heard from your Father that you are the driving force behind your siblings betrothals, have you found a bride for yourself then ?", he asked casually.
To that Ned grimaced and said, " No, I hoped for one of the Tully daughters, importing costs of grain from Riverlands would have become so much cheaper. But Lord Hoster Tully wants Heirs of Great Houses for his daughters and apparently a second son is not good enough. I suggested my Father to look towards Reach and Dorne. I have an idea about what the North and Dorne could trade in, marrying a Dornish Lady will help with that, but Father hasn't approved of the idea yet. I don't have much hope about Reach. "
" Is that so? So a wife is nothing more than what she could bring for the North to you? ", Rhaegar asked
" Of course not. If whoever she will be finds me agreeable to marry, then I will be respectful of her, I will do my best to love her. If I didn't know true situation of the North, I would have been free to marry whoever I liked. But I do know. I have duty to my people and a promise to keep, I will not be selfish ", Ned said with determination.
" Very well, I understand, I have my own duties ", Rhaegar said with a pat on Neds shoulder.
" I need your help with something, Rhaegar ", Ned said quietly.
" With ?" , Rhaegar asked
" I need to find experienced unaffiliated Captains and sailors. The North will be building a fleet very soon. Mostly trade ships. But at least some Warships to patrol our western coast. The coast is too vulnerable and I do not like it. I need men who are looking for a better life for themselves, men who will be loyal on to death to the person who gives that chance. It will take years before the ships and the port is complete, but I need to start looking for them now, I can look for these men in Vale and Stormlands, but I don't have any contacts outside those. Can you help?"
" I will do what I can ", Rhaegar replied, before asking, " What was your idea that the North and Dorne could trade in ?"
" Warships, House Stark builds them and Dorne buys them. Of course we will only sell after we have enough for our own use ", Ned answered.
" Ah, the Pirate raids Dorne suffers regularly, they don't have the timber to build their own. So your idea is to build the ships in the North and sell them to Dorne, you have no problem selling to Dorne since there is no threat they pose to the North", Rhaegar guessed.
" Yes, they need them, we have them. They are not a true threat to us, as much as sun and deserts make it a nightmare to assualt Dorne, the same holds true to cold and snow of the North", Ned replied.
" But Lord Stark isn't enthusiastic about the plan? ", Rhaegar asked.
" My Father believes I am getting ahead of myself on this one. It will take a year to start laying foundations for the castle at sea dragon point and some more to start building ships, the gold needs to be found, so do the ship builders. All of this takes time and a hundred obstacles may arise in meanwhile. So he cautions I wait and see before making grand plans", Ned said.
" He is a wise man, Lord Stark ", Rhaegar said with a smile.
" How are your studies going ?" , Ned asked.
" You were right to be suspicious of Maesters, there aren't enough Valyrian tomes at Dragonstone and Red Keep and Marwyn confirmed that no travel journals of Maesters who travelled to Valyria are openly at the Citadel. He speculated everything regarding magic is buried deep by the Archmaesters. He insists that they won't have destroyed the knowledge, only buried and hidden", Rhaegar replied.
" So someone needs to infiltrate the Citadel and reach its highest echelons to find the truth ", Ned suggested.
" Yes, Marwyn offered to do so, but I fear he is already an outcast and probably won't learn anything even if he became Archmaester. This needs someone who fills certain criterion,born in Reach, with noble blood and started young at the Citadel, at least taken under the wing by a Archmaester", Rhaegar replied.
" We should keep a look out for such a candidate I suppose, How is your progress on discovering Dragonstones secrets ?", Ned asked.
" You know of the Glass Candles cache I found, I feel I am getting very close to prying open it secrets. But I have a feeling something more is to be found there, almost like something is calling to me ", Rhaegar said.
" As you progress in meditation you will get to a point that you could stay hours in it. One benefit of deep meditation is that it magnifies your sensing range, that will probably help with pointing out what is it that you are feeling", Ned said remembering how he discovered the message planted in his head.
" I will do that, I couldn't spend as much time as I wish at Dragonstone, my other duties at Kingslanding call me back with annoying frequency ", Rhaegar said with a sigh.
So they talked some more about their duties, interests and magic for awhile before parting ways. Tomorrow Ned will go back North towards Moat Cailin, he still hasn't seen the Castle since the reconstruction work started and Rhaegar will go back to Kingslanding.