SER BRYNDEN
He was mounted on his horse as he looked down the hill, there like a river of steel, horses and colorful banners, came the knights of the Vale. He could spot the banner of house Arryn and the banner of the Royce´s of Runestone, there was also the banner of the Waynwood and Corbray, Redfort and Hardyng. There were so many banners that Brynden was sure that all the houses of the Vale were represented.
But one of those banners made the man clench his jaw in anger, and that was the banner Petyr Baelish had taken for his own, the mockingbird. When he thought of what the man had done to his grandniece, he felt the anger start to bubble, he truly hated that man.
Then he spotted a few riders separate themselves from the march and ride towards them. Brynden glanced to his companions, on one hand was the lady of Bear island, lady Maege Mormont and on his other side was lord Howland Reed.
Behind them where fifty men, half of them in Stark armor and the other half were the sworn men of the king, in their new black and red leather armor that was made in the style of the Starks. The men were also holding the banners of house Stark and house Targaryen side by side.
Brynden couldn't help but to smirk at that, that should cause some ruckus among the Valemen. As he watched the riders came closer, he recognized Lord Yohn Royce who was the lord of Runestone, Brynden had always like the lord of Runestone, he was a good and honorable man.
There was also the old Lord Horton Redfort with his well-kept beard and his mild eyes and his eldest son and heir, Jasper.
Brynden also recognized the heir to the Ironoaks, Ser Morton Waynwood and his adult son, Ser Roland Waynwood.
But Brynden didn't like their companions.
Lyn Corbray who was the heir to his brother Lyonel, he was a young and handsome man with shoulder length brown hair and more vanity than was heathy for one man. There was also the rumor that he was always in need of money for some reason.
Ser Harry Hardyng was there also, Brynden hadn't seen him for years now and when he had last laid eyes on the boy it had been when Brynden had been serving Jon Arryn. Harry the heir was a handsome man with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, but despite his young age he had already fathered two bastards.
And of course, the weasel himself, Petyr Baelish. That was a man Brynden hated with passion. The whoremonger was trying to get his hands-on Sansa, and that was something that Brynden would never allow.
As they got closer, Brynden saw the surprise on the men as they watched the banners that were flying above the heads of the Stark delegation. The Bronze Yohn was staring open mouthed at the Targaryen banner, and Lyn Corbray had gone very pale, but Baelish was better at concealing his surprise.
But he could still see the man was shocked. Brynden could see the man glance at the banner and Brynden with wide eyes before he hid the surprise.
"My lords, what brings you to the north?" Brynden asked they came up to them. He knew exactly what they were doing here.
"Ser Brynden." Bronze Yohn was looking between them and the banners overhead. "What on earth is going on here?" Brynden could understand why the man was so shocked, after what Aerys had done to Rickard and Brandon Stark, most people would think that the northern lords would never declare for a Targaryen. But the Targaryen they were declaring for was the trueborn son of Lyanna Stark and he was also marrying another Stark, but the Vale men didn't know that yet.
At Lord Royce´s words, Brynden turned to look at the banners behind him, then he turned back the men in front of him.
"This is the banner of our new monarch." Brynden answered, he had to admit he was kind of enjoying this.
The men in front of them looked at the Targaryen banner again. Then Brynden´s ears were assaulted by the weasel´s voice. "I am surprised that the lords of the north would ever support Aegon Targaryen after what Aerys Targaryen did."
Brynden raised an eyebrow, so that he didn't know that King Jon was the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen, for if he did, he would have immediately connected the dots.
"I never said that it was Aegon Targaryen." Brynden replied. He could see that Baelish was going to say something so Brynden interrupted him.
"Come my lords, I will take you to Winterfell, since I assume you didn't come all this way to talk to me. But do send a messenger to your men and let them now that they can make encampment where they are." Brynden turned his horse and started back to the castle of the Starks, with Howland and lady Maege following him.
As Brynden and the Stark/Targaryen delegation started their way back to Winterfell, he could hear the Valemen rush to give the orders to their men and hurry after Brynden and his companions.
"Ser Brynden." Baelish´s weasel voice sneaked in his ears as the man rode up to him. "I had thought that you would be in the Riverlands at this moment, gathering men to retake Riverrun."
"Is that so?" Brynden countered. He really didn't want to have a conversation with this man. Brynden could see a flash of irritation cross the younger man´s face, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.
A smug smile appeared on the weasel´s face. "Yes, the last I heard was that you had surrendered Riverrun and disappeared. I had simply thought that you were now trying to gather an army, not hiding here in the north." Brynden knew what the man was trying to do, Sansa had warned him that Baelish would be trying to get under his skin.
Brynden could hear the snigger from Ser Lyn, and the irritated sigh from Lord Royce. But Brynden couldn't help the slight tug at the corner of his mouth in amusement. "You were wrong."
"Ser Brynden." The blackfish turned his head to Lord Royce as the lord of Runestone rode to his other side. "We have been hearing these wild stories about how Jon Snow is not the bastard son of Eddard Stark, but of him being the baseborn son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, is this true?"
The lord of Runestone´s eyes were the size of plates as he waited for Brynden to answer. Brynden didn't want to lie to the man, Brynden had always like the Bronze Yohn, he was a true and honorable man, unlike Littlefinger.
"And who told you that?" Lady Maege asked the lord of Runestone. The short woman looked at the lord with a knowing glint in her eyes, Brynden could see that the willful and headstrong woman knew exactly who had told the lord of Runestone that Jon Targaryen was a bastard.
The lord of Runestone looked at Littlefinger, and the smaller man smiled. "Well, it just seemed so out of Eddard Stark´s character to father a bastard, and now said bastard has four small dragons. So, it seems reasonable that he is the bastard of Rhaegar Targaryen." The whoremonger was clearly trying to impress them with his spy network and his knowledge of the king.
But he failed as Brynden smirked at the smaller man and Howland and Maege chuckled to themselves.
"Let hurry." Brynden said with a cheery tone in his voice. "We are expected." He nudged his horses to go faster and they galloped in silence to the castle of the Starks.
The ancient home of the Stark´s towered over them, with its tall walls and towers that touched the sky and the banners in white with the grey snarling direwolf, that fluttered in the wind.
As they passed through the gate into the castle, they could hear the loud noise of large leathery wings beating overhead. When they passed through, the Vale lords looked to the sky in fear and wonder as the two larger of the king's dragons came into view.
The cream and golden one, Viserion as the king had called him, let out a deafening roar as he landed on the battlements.
Rhaegal, the king´s own mount, landed on the first keep, close where the King and the people of the castle where waiting. The largest dragon was so close that he could lower his enormous head into the courtyard and sniff at the king, if he so chose.
The king was standing with his betrothed and Brynden´s own grandniece. Jon Targaryen was wearing his usual northern style clothing with the Targaryen colors and his two valyrian swords strapped to his waist, and the crown of Aegon the conqueror was secured firmly on the king´s head, with the square cut rubies glinting playfully amongst the dark curls.
At his feet were two of the smaller dragons that were the size of large hunting dogs, the pale green one and the blue one. The other two where siting on two of the gargoyles that littered the walls of the first keep and watching the people enter the courtyard with their eerily intelligent eyes.
Brynden´s niece and the regent of Winterfell was dressed in her own house colors of white and grey, and her Tully red hair was in a northern braid. She sent her granduncle a smile as she stood in the courtyard with her direwolf, Ice at her side and her sworn shield, Ser Brienne at her back.
The lord of Winterfell was standing in front of the king and Brynden´s grandniece, trying his hardest to imitate his cousin, the king, by trying to look stern, but the look was very out of place at such a small child and came of as more of a pout. And on the king's other side was the lady of Storm´s End clad in black and yellow of her house.
All the attending lords and ladies of the north were gathered around them, they were all looking very proud of their new king and future queen. Brynden could also see some of the clan leaders of the freefolk, Tormund giantsbane was standing close behind the king with his fiery red beard unkempt and a smirk on his face.
Brynden dismounted his horse and handed the reins to a stable boy. He walked closer to the king and the Starks.
Brynden cleared his throat, as he watched the Valemen dismount their horses. The surprise at seeing the larger dragons was clear on their faces, and for the first time Petyr Baelish was clearly having a hard time concealing his shock as he watched the emerald green dragon bare his ink black teeth, that reminded Brynden of longswords.
Brynden started by introducing the lords and knights of the Vale, and he could see that the northern lords weren't impressed. They remembered clearly that the knights of the Vale had stayed in the Vale in the war of the five kings, when Robb had clear need of his aunt and cousins support.
But Sansa made sure that the dislike she had for Baelish couldn't be seen on her face and as she spoke, she was looking every inch the queen she soon would be. "My lords, welcome to Winterfell."
Sansa smiled at the lords as she continued. "May I introduce my brother, lord Rickon Stark the lord of Winterfell, and lady Shireen Baratheon the lady of Storm´s End."
The regent of Rickon Stark fell silent as she allowed the visiting lords to greet their host and the lady of Strom´s End, then Sansa introduced the king. "And of course our mutual cousin, King Jon of house Targaryen, the first of his name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the first men, the lord of the seven kingdoms, protector of the realm and defender of the faith, the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, the last dragon, the white wolf, the undying and father of dragons."
Sansa had been smiling the entre time as she spoke, and with every word her smile grew larger. She was clearly enjoying this as much as Brynden was.
The lord of the Redfort was looking pale and he was opening his mouth and closing it in shock at the news. Baelish opened his mouth to say something, but Sansa was faster.
"My lords, why don't we continue this inside, you must be weary from the road."
At these words, the great emerald dragon, let out a deafening roar and took to the skies and made the Valemen jump with fear, Rhaegal was followed by the cream and golden one, Viserion into the sky above Winterfell. But the smaller dragons stayed with the king, the red and silver ones that had been resting on the gargoyles jumped down to the ground.
The king offered his arm to his betrothed, and they made their way to the great hall followed by lord Rickon and lady Shireen and four dragons and a direwolf.
It was then Brynden wondered where the great white direwolf of the king was hiding. He hadn't seen the direwolf that seemed to shadow the king every time when he had his feet on the ground.
Brynden gestured for Bronze Yohn to follow them and hurried after the northern lords into the great hall.
SANSA
The look on surprise on Littlefinger´s face told her everything she needed to know. He clearly hadn't known about Rhaegal and Viserion, that was evident by the look on his face. And he hadn't known that Jon was the trueborn son and heir of Rhaegar Targaryen.
Sansa knew that when Littlefinger had seen the crown of Aegon the dragon, the weasel like man, had of course guessed that they had crowned Jon because of his connections to the Targaryen line and his dragons, but he clearly hadn't gotten any news from White Harbor about Jon trueborn status yet.
The man had after all been on the road for some time and it was hard getting reports from your spies when you were on the move.
Jon and Sansa walked side by side to the great hall and took their seats, as Jon helped her to her seat, like the gentleman he was, she couldn't help but to notice that Rickon was attempting to do the same to Shireen.
Both ladies tried their best to hide their smiles, as the young boy helped Shireen to her seat. It seemed that Rickon wasn't going to stop his hero worshiping of Jon anytime soon, as the young boy followed Jon wherever the king went if he possibly could and tried to imitate him in every way.
The only time when Jon had a moments break was when Rickon had his lessons with the maester. Jon didn't even have a break from Rickon at night, as the young boy had started to have night terrors, and no one could console him but Jon.
So, for the last two nights Jon had been woken up in the middle of the night by one of Rickon´s guards. Then Jon had taken the boy to his solar and they would sit together, and Jon would tell Rickon stories until he fell asleep again.
That was where Sansa had found them this morning, in Jon´s solar. Jon had been sleeping in his chair with Rickon in his lap and Ghost had been asleep by his feet.
Sansa had stood in the doorway and just looked at them for some time, they had looked the picture of a father and son, just sleeping there. She couldn't help but to wonder if their children would have the same bond with Jon as Rickon had now.
That very thought had made her blush to the roots of her hair, she could barely look at Jon with Rickon and Shireen without thinking how wonderful father Jon would make.
Sansa forcibly brought her thoughts back to the present. She felt something radiate heat next to her, and as she looked over to Jon, she could see that the red dragon, Charon had taken up residence in Jon´s lap even though he really didn't fit, Charon had to let his tail dangle out of the chair and he had laid his head on the table, while the blue one, Sycorax was using the back of Jon´s chair was a perch.
The pale green one and the silver one, Oberon and Umbriel had decided to rest in front of the high table with Ghost and Ice. Ghost had decided that he would stay inside while they had gone to greet the new arrivals.
Sansa watched as all the lords of the north and the freefolk leaders took their seats, the inhabitants of the hall were trying their best to hide their gleefulness. She could understand the northern lords, they were still angry at the knights of the Vale for sitting out the war of the five kings when their liege lord had such close family ties to the Starks.
Sansa´s granduncle walked into the hall with the lords and knights of the Vale following him, the Valemen were still looking a little rattled from seeing the large dragons and hearing about Jon´s claim to the throne.
They approached the high table but stopped a few feet away, when Umbriel gave them a warning hiss as the silver dragon watched them with golden eyes.
Silence filled the hall as the Valemen stared at the dragons in front of them. But finally, Jon broke the silence. "My lords." His voice was deep, and all the lords were listening with rapt attention. "May I ask what you are doing here in the north with an army at your back?"
Littlefinger stepped forward. "When we heard that lady Sansa was gathering an army, lord Arryn immediately called the knights of the Vale to help her take back her home. To our surprise we weren't needed and the direwolf banner once again flies above Winterfell where it belongs."
Sansa couldn't help the irritation that she felt at the ferret´s words, but she made sure that her face betrayed none of her feelings.
"That is strange." Jon continued. "The last I heard was that you were a Lannister man." That statement alone was enough for the lords and ladies of the north to start shouting and yelling at Littlefinger, much to Sansa´s amusement.
Sansa had to admit that she was enjoying this very much. Littlefinger had probably expected her to beg him for his aid, and then he would come to her rescue at the last moment possible moment when both Jon and Rickon had been murdered, leaving her as the sole heir to Winterfell.
The fact that Jon had four young dragons probably hadn't worried Littlefinger a lot, young dragons could be killed much easier than the older ones, as the riots after the dance of the dragons had proven, when the mob had broken into the dragon pit and the people had killed a lot of the Targaryen dragons as they had been trapped and chained.
But now that plan had gone out the window, and Jon and Rickon were both alive and Jon having been declared king by the northern lords with two much larger dragons to his name.
The hall was filled with the voices of the people of the north until Jon lifted his hand a little to signal them to be quiet, as he raised his hand, the hall fell silent immediately. Jon never took his eyes from the shorter man as he stood there in the middle of the great hall before the high table, trying to find an answer to put before the king of the seven kingdoms.
Littlefinger cleared his throat. "I do not support the Lannisters, by coming here I have publicly declared for house Stark for the whole world to see." This made Sansa raise an eyebrow, she didn't believe him for a second, and judging by the murmurs in the hall, neither did the lords of the north.
Sansa leaned forward on her elbows. "You do realize that house Stark has declared for King Jon, and recognizes no other monarch to rule over the seven kingdoms? And by declaring for house Stark, you are declaring for King Jon?"
As soon as she said that last part, the lords of the north started to chant Jon´s name. The great hall was filled with the chants of King Jon for a few moments before Jon quieted them down again.
"Lady Sansa." She looked at the Valemen again, and she could see Ser Lyn Corbray step forward to speak. "How do we even know that this…Jon is the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen? He could be lying for all we know."
This made the lords start their shouting again, but this time it was directed at the knight. She could see that the Flint was standing up and screaming. "You dare call our king a liar?"
Jon silenced the lords yet again; she could see that he was staring to get really tired of having to call them to order again and again. Then Jon nodded at Howland Reed who was standing a little to the side in the great hall, ready to show the Valelords the proof that they had that Jon was indeed the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen.
Lord Reed read out loud the letters and documents that they had from the high septon that had married Rhaegar and Lyanna, and the document that Elia Martell had written up about her approval of the marriage, and then he let them all see the sigils that proved that the letters were penned by the people that lord Howland said they were written by.
At seeing the proof, Ser Lyn was looking a little pale, he hadn't expected them to have proof of Jon´s parentage. But she could see that he wasn't done as he straitened himself and continued talking. "But he is still after Aegon Targaryen in the line of succession, a second born son cannot come before a first born."
This made the people in the hall chuckle and laugh, and she smiled in amusement. "King Jon has provided proof of who he is, he has proven beyond a doubt that he is the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, but this…Aegon has not proven himself to be the son of Rhaegar and Elia, and if King Jon has to prove that he is the trueborn heir, so does this Aegon character."
Ser Lyn looked a little lost for a moment, but then he tried again. "But Aegon has been rumored to have the Valyrian coloring, unlike-." He cut himself off, it was like he could bring himself to call Jon a king, but if he called him a prince, when the lords in the hall had declared him a king, would anger the lords.
Sansa could feel Shireen adjust in the seat beside her. "So do thousands of people in Lys." The lady of Storm´s End voice rang throughout the hall. "Are they all the son of Rhaegar Targaryen?"
Shireen´s quip made the northern lord start laughing, and Sansa couldn't resist sending the younger girl a small smile.
Sansa could see the knight was becoming more and more embarrassed by the moment, so she decided to take charge with this conversation. "Enough my lords, house Stark has declared for King Jon and so has the north and the lady of Storm´s End and that will not be changing because of someone that claims to be Aegon Targaryen but has not provided proof of said claims." Her voice rang throughout the hall and her statement was followed by cheers of the northern lords and ladies.
Jon smile to her and she could feel warmth spread in her belly. "Thank you, lady Sansa, for those words, I shall always strive to be worthy of the loyalty you have shown me today." Jon deep voice was met with more cheers from the lords of the north, and Sansa could see the Littlefinger was having a hard time concealing his emotions at the moment. It seemed like his plans were going up in smoke right in front of him.
"Lady Sansa." Littlefinger´s voice carried over to them. "You are absolutely right, we cannot ask King Jon to provide proof of his parentage but not this Aegon, whoever he is." The self-satisfied smirk was back in full force, and she wanted to smack it of his face.
"But there is still the issue of your vows to the nights watch." Littlefinger´s smirk was in full force now. "As we all now, when one takes the vows, they are bond to the watch for life."
Sansa interlaced her fingers and leaned forward on her elbows. "King Jon has already fulfilled those vows, lord Baelish." The lords of the north and the freefolk all made murmurs of agreement. By now all the lords knew of how Jon had stepped out of his funeral pyre with his young dragons.
"I thought that a man had to die for them to be released from his night´s watch vows." Ser Lyn stated with a smug smile, most likely thinking that he had them there.
"You are right." Sansa answered with a smile. "A man has to die to be released from his vows of the night´s watch."
This was followed by silence, all the Valemen looked at her with confusion plainly written on their faces.
"But Lady Sansa." Lord Yohn Royce stepped forward hesitantly. "How can he be here alive before us, if he died to fulfill his vows to the nights watch?" She could see it in his eyes, that he really wanted to believe what they were saying but he couldn't see how it was possible.
"Lord Royce." Jon spoke up. "After I negotiated with the freefolk, I was stabbed to death by some of my black brothers."
Lord Royce and lord Redfort looked at Jon like he had lost his mind, but the two young knights Ser Lyn and Ser Harry just laughed. But they quickly fell silent when no one joined them, but Littlefinger was having a hard time hiding his smug smile.
Before anyone could call him a liar, Jon put Charon on the floor beside and stood from his chair. Then he started to take of his jerkin, when he had taken the jerkin of his person, he placed it in the chair. The crown of Aegon the conqueror was put on the table and he started to work on the shirt.
Sansa could see the startled looks on the Valelords, and she noted that her uncle looked a little curious as well, then it dawned on her, he had never seen Jon´s murder scars.
But as Jon´s shirt came off, the occupants in the hall looked on in horror at the scars that littered Jon´s otherwise perfect torso. The scars were still angry red and still looked painful to bear, but no one in the hall could deny that the wounds that had caused the scaring had been lethal.
Sansa couldn't help but to study her betrothed chest, she looked on in fascination as his muscles move with every breath and how broad and powerful his shoulders looked. She could feel the heat rise in her belly was she watched him, but thankfully Jon put on his shirt back on before anyone noticed that she couldn't take her eyes of him.
Sansa could feel a blush coming on, and she noticed that Shireen was giving her an impish grin. It seemed that the younger lady suspected that Jon taking of his clothes next to her was having an effect on Sansa, and she was right.
Sansa sat up straighter in her chair and looked to the lords, the lords of the Vale were all pale and the disbelieve was clear on their faces, it was clear to her that they hadn't expected Jon to be telling the truth.
Jon had sat back in his chair and the crown of Aegon the conqueror was back to where it belonged, on his curly head and his jerkin was back on his body but he had left it open. It was then she noticed that Littlefinger was looking at her with suspicion, and Sansa could feel the dread settle in her stomach. Had he seen the way she was looking at Jon?
Jon´s voice cut through the silence that was filling the hall. "My lords I have another thing to show you." Jon nodded at one of his men, that rushed out of the hall.
The man returned with one of the creates that hid one of Jon´s undead murders. They had talked about this, neither one of them wanted to show the lords the dead man with both Rickon and Shireen in the room, but Jon and Sansa also knew that they wouldn't be children forever and if something happened to Jon and Sansa, Shireen and Rickon would have to lead the kingdoms in the war with the Others as the head of their houses.
Sansa grabbed Shireen´s hand and whispered words of encouragement. This was the reason that Jon had taken the dragons inside and had both his valyrian steel swords on his person. To make sure that the dead man couldn't hurt Rickon or Shireen.
Jon nodded at the captain of his guard, and the men threw open the create, the dead man rolled out of it. The smell was almost overwhelming, and clothing were now just black rags. But the decay was less than Sansa had expected from a body that had been killed around three months ago.
The corpse shrieked and charged at Ser Harry, the young man tried to kill the thing with his regular castle forged steel, but the dead man just kept on going. The fear in the young man´s eyes was almost overwhelming, and it wasn't until Ser Lyn started to attack the dead man with his own valyrian steel sword, that they could finally kill the creature.
"This was one of the men that killed me." Jon stated as a matter of fact. "His name was Ser Alliser Thorne, and he was the first ranger of the night´s watch." Jon let the silence fall over the hall.
"Your grace." Ser Harry spoke, and he was so rattled that they almost couldn't understand what he was saying. "Why didn't my sword do anything to hurt him?" He was so pale that he looked like he would be fainting from fear.
"Because it is castle forged steel, it doesn't work on the dead, only fire, dragonglass and valyrian steel seems to work to permanently kill those things." The king replied, and his face was like it was carved from stone as he continued. "The dead are marching on the wall as we speak, and sooner or later they will find a way to break though the wall."
Jon fell silent for a moment, and it was like everyone in the hall held their breath as they waited for him to continue. "We cannot run from them, we cannot hide from them, our only hope is to stand together against our common enemy before they break through the wall. If they get south of the neck, all is lost."
Sansa could almost see the moment when lord Royce decided to follow Jon, it was clear on the man´s face that he knew that Jon was their best option. The man drew his sword from its sheath and fell to his knee, lord Redfort followed him almost immediately as did his son.
Anya Waynwood´s son and heir and his son also followed suit and declared for Jon. Sansa could see that Harry Hardyng was still staring at the body of the dead man, then he started to nod his head furiously and dropped to his knee, and he was followed by Ser Lyn.
Now every eye turned to Littlefinger, all of his allies had now declared for Jon, so the man had no other chose but to do so as well.
Sansa could help but to fell a little vindicated at seeing the man drop to his knees and swear his fealty to Jon, but to Sansa this was not enough, and she knew that this would not be enough for Jon either, but for now everything was going according to plan.