A/N: I hope you all are doing well, especially as times are getting more difficult for those at least in America. Let's all hope that this blows over soon.
"We're just a few hours from Trader Town! Be prepared!" called out the zorseman who acted as Sela's emissary to Lord Joon at the town.
The group had traveled down the Steel Road from their initial encampment and was about to near their final destination. But Sela said that they would not actually enter Trader Town without getting guaranteed safe conducts from the imperial army. There was just too much bad blood between the zorsemen from the Plains of the Jogos Nhai and the soldiers of the soldiers of the Golden Empire to trust the word of Lord Joon, no matter how trustworthy people perceived him to be. Once they were within sight of the town, they would stop and wait for an imperial rider to meet them and provide them with their safe conducts. If they didn't receive them, they would ride back up the Steel Road, for entering the town without the safe conduct passes opened many opportunities for unrestrained soldiers to attack and kill them.
But Lord Joon has good control over the army. They would never try to disobey him or work around him without incurring his wrath, Jon thought.
Even though he was not as bothered by being dirtied like Sumeng, he very much looked forward to a bath and some hot food after going without both for more than a few weeks. He also sought the comfort of soft sheets, as he intended to lay upon them and sleep for a week at the least. I know when enough is enough, Jon thought when reflecting on how long he had to live without the comforts of civilized society like at Kushiro.
As for Chanhee, she didn't care about how she looked, as the three moons spent in the custody of Lord Joon were the exception of how she had lived for most of her life. She wasn't bothered by the smell of animal dung, sweaty garments, and rotting flesh, all of which were common on the steppes. However, when she did clean herself up, she looked stunning, as the grime covered the slimness of her body, the pretty features on her face, and the muscles on her arms and legs, all of which Jon touched when they coupled. And he longed for when she would smell of flower blossoms again. I can't think of that smell without thinking of her, he mused.
Predictably, Sumeng was becoming the most anxious to seeing Trader Town, as he shuddered from the stench of animals and became increasingly sore as the journey towards the town continued, both of which started to make him whine more. Only Sela's intervention prevented the group from suffering more of his incessant complaining, especially since she gave her speech on being grateful and polite to those who didn't have to help him. Maybe this trip will change him for the better, Jon hoped, but he somehow expected to have his hopes crushed when they do return to civilization.
As for the Goi man, Jon noticed something… off about him. His eyes moved about in their sockets, looking around the plains in a nervous fashion. He gulped more than three time in the past hour and kept readjusting his gloves, armor, and weapons. Instead of the hatred that he held for Chanhee and Jon, he felt… uneasy around them. Or is it not us he's worried about?
Jon's first thoughts were that the Goi man was concerned about the state of his Crown Prince, as Sumeng had made it clear multiple times that he was getting impatient in reaching Trader Town. If that were the case, he would have brushed off the Goi man's jumpiness. However, he kept glancing at Jon and Chanhee more than he did with Sumeng, befuddling him even more since he would only give the both of them vile stares. What's going on?
Trying not to alert the Goi man, Jon nudged Chanhee. "You notice something odd with the Goi man there?" he spoke in his best goryeomal, as he had to guess that the Goi man knew how to speak guanhua besides the army's nihongo tongue.
"Yeah, I noticed it also," Chanhee revealed, catching on to what Jon was doing. "He was never this nervous around us."
"Maybe because Ghost and Meleys are here to protect us," Jon pointed to his white direwolf and the red dragon, which flew above the group. "He'd seen them both protecting us when he and his friend tried to threaten us, and without his partner, he might be more afraid," he hoped that was the case.
"No," Chanhee shook her head. "There are many types of nervousness that I've seen, and I've seen that look before."
"Where?" Jon was getting very concerned.
"In the plains, it's not uncommon for Goi and Chogos to lead each other into a place where they might feel safe. I've seen a Chogo chief drinking milk provided by a Goi chief, since offering milk is a sign of peaceful intentions and a guarantee against any harm done. However, that Chogo chief didn't know at the time that the milk was poisoned, and the Goi chief held him responsible for something that had happened between them. I can't remember what made him do such a thing. But that chief died and thus we Chogo have a rule in not accepting milk from the Goi, since they might try to poison us," Chanhee explained.
"Seven hells," Jon whispered in shock. "I'm just surprised that the Goi chief was able to get away from violating such a practice. If you violate guest rights back in Westeros, you will be condemned by every family on the continent."
"Too much has happened between my people and the Goi for them to simply trust on the guarantees of sharing milk to protect each other," she replied. "But I was there when the chief from my people was poisoned, and that look in that Goi chief's eyes… I should've warned him that something was wrong, because the Goi would never do that kind of gesture under any normal circumstance."
"And you think something bad will happen because you see that look in the Goi's face?" he fought the temptation to look at the Goi, for another long look at him might alert the cavalryman to what they were saying to each other.
"Whatever it is, we have to keep our eyes peeled," Chanhee warned him. "I don't trust the Goi to keep their anger under control especially around us and I don't know if the safe conducts will be enough to protect us in Trader Town."
"Right," Jon agreed. "Whatever it is they might have planned for us, we'll be ready, as long as we stick together."
She nodded and smiled. "Together."
"And now that we're talking about us, I think it's only fair that we talk about where we are ever since that night," Jon wanted to know where they stood.
Chanhee bobbed her head. "All right. What do you want to say?"
"I think… we should tell Lord Joon that we're together and that we should… be treated like those who are courting each other," Jon slowly said.
Chanhee chuckled. "Come on, Jon. If you're going to say something, say it clearly. Don't talk slowly or hesitate, as those are not the reasons why I liked you in the first place."
Jon cleared his throat. Here we go. "You're the first woman that I love, and you are the first to accept me for who I am. And you're… the prettiest and kindest girl that I've met so far, besides the ones that I have met before."
"I'm not kind," she denied. "When I am pushed, I will start hurting people."
"And that's the point. I think being a good person doesn't mean you don't fight when others try to do bad things to you. Being good to everyone, even those that wish you harm, is not being kind. That's foolishness, and you've shown me that you are anything but that."
"True," she shrugged.
"What girl can compare to that? But I am not saying this just to flatter you. Everything became better with you here by my side, especially since I am a stranger to this land. And for the first time in my life, I think I know what love is."
She smiled and touched his cheek. "I feel the same for you too. I think everything that my life was, just trying not to starve every day of the week ad staying alive from anything that wanted to kill me, became bearable when you entered it. But… I would be careful with how you use the word 'love.'"
Jon blinked. "Why? I do love you."
"And I don't doubt it. But you say that I am the first woman that made you feel that way, which means that you don't know how love really works."
"What are you saying?"
"Do you think that you're the first man to tell me that he loved me? I met only one person who said that to me, but he had an idea of love that revolved around his whims. And that's when I learned that there is a difference between love and obsession."
"Chanhee," Jon shook his head frantically. "I love you. I don't feel obsessed with you."
"How do you know that?" she asked poignantly. "Before me, you've never felt those feelings with another woman. And I've seen too many times boys or men confusing the two. I think love comes when you cannot see a life without the one person you have such feelings for. And I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think you can think of that. However, it's not your fault. That's just the way it is."
"Chanhee," Jon felt his heart beginning to tear, particularly because he saw his love's eyes begin to water. "Why are you saying this?"
"I don't think that I will be the only woman you'll have such feelings for. And I know that you are not the only Targaryen in the world."
That caught Jon by surprise. "Wait, are you talking about my aunt Daenerys?"
"You told me that you saw her through the flames. And who knows what might happen between you two? I might not be the most well-read person in the world, but I do understand that dragons have a connection that no one else can."
"Chanhee…" Jon wasn't sure how to answer. Daenerys is beautiful and has three dragons with her. But I have feelings for the woman in front of me right now. "You're right. I don't know what might happen between me and my aunt Daenerys when we do meet, but I can say this for sure: I do love you and I love the person that I am staring at and talking with right now. Whether you don't believe me or trust my words, that is something that I cannot control." He sighed shakily. "I don't know what else I can say to persuade you otherwise, but my feelings for you are pure. If that's not enough, so be it."
He sniffled, not understanding why Chanhee would suddenly doubt his love for her.
Her eyes softened upon seeing how Jon was not going to plead further and giving her the choice to accept his words. She wiped some tears forming in her eyes, but she was now reassured regarding how he felt.
"Well, I guess all I can ask you is that we continue this together and find out more about this love between us," she offered.
Jon grinned and pulled her in for a kiss. "I'd like that."
"But just remember. Love is not something you can just give to anyone. That's the mistake most men make, and the reason why love becomes so cheap."
"I will," Jon nodded affirmatively.
"We can talk about this more after we wash up at Trader Town, okay?"
"Okay."
Suddenly, the lead zorsemen in Sela's group whistled out while putting his fist up. Jon couldn't see his face, but the way he moved his head reminded him of when he spent his days in the wolfswood, particularly when something was near but couldn't be seen.
"What's wrong?" Sumeng asked.
"Something's not right," Sela glanced around. "It's quiet."
"Doesn't that describe the steppes for you people?"
Chanhee groaned, while Jon gave him a scolding look.
"Not this quiet," Sela said while turning around to Sumeng. "You got anyone waiting for us?"
"What?" Sumeng was baffled.
"No, it's not him," Jon defended Sumeng before turning to the Goi man, who was very still. "Maybe he knows something."
"You," Sumeng called to the Goi man. "Why are you like that?"
Before the Goi man could answer, they heard horses neighing in the distance. Turning their heads south down the Steel Road, they could make out riders galloping towards them.
Are those the men that would give us the safe conduct? They look like in a hurry to meet us. But seeing how fast they were coming at them and then seeing their daos unsheathed and their other weapons at the ready, Jon's eyes widened.
"Get down, Your Highness!" the Goi man called out.
"Huh?" More than one person called out before they heard a voice pierce through the silence.
"UTE!" Before Jon or anyone could register the nihongo command for "fire," thundering noises and clouds of smoke mixed in with flashes that broke out from all of the group charging at them. The zorseman who acted as the emissary was instantly felled, as were three others, as iron balls pierced through their furs and lodged themselves into the vital areas of the body. The zorses were also startled by the noise, having never heard them before that moment.
By some miracle, none of the iron balls had hit Jon. Quickly looking to Chanhee and Sumeng, both of whom were also not hit, he yelled, "Fall back! Ride back north!" He wheeled his zorse around to go back up the Steel Road away from Trader Town, with Chanhee, Sumeng, Ghost, and Meleys following him. Meanwhile, Sela had also decided to withdraw and followed the trio.
But before they could get to a safe distance away from the tanegashima that had fired upon them, arrows flew into the group, taking more of the zorsemen down. Looking around, Jon saw that the Goi man was nowhere to be seen. Shit! He knew what was coming and he led us right into a trap!
Jon glanced back south, with the mounted men gaining on them. Having possessed the element of surprise, they were able to get the jump on the group and thus cut them down to about twelve riders, including himself, Chanhee, and Sumeng. And as their backs were turned, they made for easy targets for the enemy, who were most likely to be Goi since the Goi man had warned Sumeng prior to the attack. If we continue like this, we'll get picked off easily.
Seeing no other alternative, Jon circled his zorse back towards the group charging at them. Ghost and Meleys followed their companion, with the former running alongside him and the latter flying above him.
What are you doing? he heard Meleys asked with concern.
The only thing that I can think of. Meleys, give them fire.
Gladly, she answered as she climbed into the air to gain altitude. She then dove back down, picking up speed as she did, before unleashing a stream of dragonfire onto the first riders.
But sensing the danger, along with getting shocked that the rumors of the dragon's existence were true, their attackers scattered and were thus disorganized, only allowing Meleys to get just two riders and their mounts on fire.
They're smart, Meleys said to Jon. They don't seem to lack in ability.
I sensed that, Jon replied as he drew Dark Sister and Longclaw. Seeing what Jon was doing, Chanhee also turned around and brought out her bow while nocking an arrow.
"Boy, I need you to attack. I don't care which ones, just start killing," Jon told Ghost, who immediately complied by jumping onto one of the riders, forcing him off of his horse while he crushed his skull with his jaws.
As for Jon, he saw an attacking cavalryman try to charge at him with a lance. But before it could touch him, he parried the lance with Dark Sister while using Longclaw to slash across his neck, the Valyrian steel making quick work of his neck and decapitating him.
His attention then changed to another horseman, but instead of a lance, he was trying to fire a tanegashima from horseback. Expectantly, he was struggling to take aim, as his target was not a static one and the weapon was just too heavy to hold without a rod to support it.
Jon charged at the cavalryman, who was readjusting his aim with the weapon. But before he could fire the weapon, he was hit with an arrow through his throat, which caused him to call backwards as his horse moved from underneath him. Turning around, he saw that Chanhee released the arrow. Both nodding to each other, they continued to fight their attackers alongside Meleys and Ghost.
Seeing the two taking the initiative, Sela unsheathed her swords before gesturing to two of her remaining zorsemen. "Watch this one," she pointed to Sumeng. "Don't let him get away and don't let him get hurt, or all of this would have been for nothing." She turned towards their attackers, who were panicking and disorganized. "Time to taste blood," she said to herself with glee before she galloped into the fray. Her zorse collided with one of their attackers' horses, causing the rider slip off of his saddle. Before he could get back up, Sela speared him through his chest. As he was wearing no armor, it cut through his heart.
The rest of the zorsemen, save for the two protecting Sumeng, began to fight back with a ferocity that the enemy had not expected to have, given that the Jogos Nhai preferred to run rather than faced well-armed and experienced killers. One killed a cavalryman with a bow, another struck with a club, and another simply got close enough to grab at a horseman and wrestle him to the ground, where he started to pommel him.
As for Jon, he saw Meleys burn another rider and Ghost getting another kill by sinking his paws into his eyes. Just like when we faced the renegades.
He then looked at Chanhee, who felled one more cavalryman with her bow. But while she was distracted with her target, she failed to notice another closing in from her right side. The horse collided with her zorse, causing her to fall over and discard her bow in favor of her dao.
Seeing the one he loved in danger, Jon turned his zorse towards her. As the cavalryman dismounted and drew his dao, seeming to be happy to fight a Chogo woman with a blade, she prepared herself. However, both would not fight, as Jon slashed his head off with Longclaw.
"I had it under control," Chanhee called out to him as he wheeled around to see if she was all right.
"I know you did. Just wanted to help," Jon answered.
Suddenly, without warning, something had pierced through Chanhee, with a blood mist being released from the wound that had formed from the back to the front of her body. Time slowed down for Jon, as he saw his love look up to the sky, her body jerking forward from the force of whatever hit her, and her arms outstretched as she collapsed on her knees, blood dripping out from her mouth, as the sound of a tanegashima aimed at her while she was occupied echoed.
"NOOOOO!" Jon cried out as he dismounted his zorse and caught her before she completely fell on the ground. He put his hand on her wound, struggling to stop the flow of her blood as it spilled onto the grasses of the plains.
"Please, please, please," Jon frantically said to himself as he cradled Chanhee's head on his left arm. She was coughing up blood, the iron ball cutting her vital vessels. Everything around them seemed to cease, as Jon was focused on keeping his love from falling into the waiting clutches of death.
"That… was not expected," Chanhee jested between coughs.
Jon chuckled, but was struggling to keep the tears from falling. "Please, don't talk. Don't talk. Stay with me."
Chanhee was gasping for air while groaning. "Jon, I'm sorry for what I said…"
"Shh, be quiet. I'm going to take care of you. You're going to be all right."
"I do love you, Jon. I shouldn't have said all that I had said…"
"No, no. I understand. I would've said the same thing," Jon tried to assure her.
Chanhee let out a softer groan. "The best time that I had was in your arms in that yurt…"
"Mine too," Jon was getting desperate as Chanhee was gasping for more breaths of air as her throat was getting flooded with her own blood. "Hold on, you're going to be all right."
"You charging into them," Chanhee used her dwindling strength to cup his cheek. "You're a mad fucker, Jon."
"I am," Jon nodded quickly.
"Stay alive, Jon. We'll see each other again," her breathing was getting shallower.
"Don't go. Please don't go," Jon was close to whimpering.
"I'll always be with you, Jon," were her final words before she sighed, dying in Jon's arms.
"Oh!" Jon pushed his forehead against her cold one. "Seven hells! The old gods help me. Please help me."
As he pleaded the old gods more, his mind began to return to the battle and the sounds of swords clanging and tanegashima firing started to pepper his ears once again. Looking up from Chanhee's cold body, he saw the cavalrymen engaging the zorsemen. Despite the ferocity they displayed earlier, they started to be beaten, as they were still outnumbered despite the efforts of Meleys and Ghost, both of whom were being actively avoided by the attackers.
Without warning, Jon felt his grief over Chanhee's departure become replaced with… rage. He felt fire emerge from his insides before, but this was something else. Something was begging to be clawed out of the depths of Jon's body, and the ice in his veins were being exchanged for an inferno that could rival the deepest hell.
His words to keep Chanhee alive having gone unheeded and the fire from Meleys' mouth being visible to Jon as they burned corpses into black ash, he tightened his jaw and slowly stood up, his hands slipping off of Chanhee's body but still soaked in her blood.
Gripping both Longclaw and Dark Sister harder than before, his eyes scanned the plains for the one responsible and he immediately caught a cavalryman, who had dismounted to place his tanegashima upon a metal rode and aimed at Chanhee.
Jon recognized the man as the Goi man's partner, who had threatened them both before Ghost and Meleys forced him to back down. Feeling an intense hate for the man who took the life of his love, Jon ran towards the Goi man, Dark Sister and Longclaw at the ready.
The Goi man, seeing the danger, attempted to reload quickly. But after Jon knocked his weapon away, he drew his dao. Jon parried it with Dark Sister while bring his fist up, which held Longclaw, to strike hard across his face. Seeing him fall to the ground and kicking his dao away, the Goi man crawled away from him.
"Please don't kill me," he begged.
Coward… Jon thought vindictively. Something quick is too good for him. Stabbing Longclaw upright into the ground, he swung Dark Sister across the man's unarmored chest, but made a cut that was not deep enough to instantly kill.
"You killed her, you piece of shit," Jon said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to enjoy every moment of this."
As the Goi man's partner screamed, Jon slashed him multiple times with the blade of Visenya Targaryen, with each one becoming deeper than the last one. He cut the tendons of his legs first, so that he wouldn't move. He then put cuts in his shoulders, so that the pain become more excruciating. Setting Dark Sister down, he then pulled out his dagger and buried it deep within his neck. But that wasn't enough, as Jon then proceeded to stab him in the same spot multiple times, more than enough to cut the arteries around this throat.
Throwing the dagger down, Jon threw punches on each side of his face. "DIE!" he repeated with each blow to the cheek, his rage knowing no limits. He lost count of how many times he punched his face, but besides the cuts in his neck, the face was becoming swollen.
As a final touch, Jon pulled his head up and struck him with his forehead, causing the Goi man's partner's skull to slam back into the ground.
Breathing heavily, Jon began to survey the damage that he had done in his anger. As his rage subsided, the shock of his actions started to dawn on him. He had never expected for him to become so willing to commit such… violence on another man. It might have been justified in Jon's mind, but it was still shocking since Jon didn't think he was even capable of doing so.
Sensing someone staring at him, he looked up and saw another cavalryman looking at him, with his bow drawn. Jon gazed at the man, his gritted teeth and face and body soaked in blood all daring him to release that arrow.
The cavalryman hesitated, not expecting a white devil to be capable of the violence that he had just witnessed. A few moments passed, before the cavalrymen was struck with an arrow from another direction before falling down, dead.
Confused, Jon looked around and saw another group of cavalrymen, this one wearing imperial army uniforms compared to the smallfolk garments the attackers wore. He also saw who was leading them. "Uncle Benjen?"
The imperial cavalry attacked what remained of the rogue cavalrymen, who were either killed quickly or were subdued. Some of the uniformed horsemen surveyed the damage caused by the dragon and Ghost, as this was their first time seeing such creatures face-to-face.
But for Benjen, he moved his horse to where Jon was after seeing him. To say that he was stunned by the amount of blood he saw on his nephew was an understatement, as he shook at the sight of the mangled corpse that Jon was responsible for.
Dismounting, Benjen then noticed Chanhee's body. Eyes widening, he then understood what Jon had done and moved to embrace him. "It's okay, Jon. I don't blame you. No one will," he tried to comfort him.
After a few more moments of trying to process everything, Jon returned the embrace and began crying into his uncle's armor.
They both stood there as Ghost and Meleys came near Jon, feeling the sadness in his heart after seeing Chanhee's cold body. Both the direwolf and the dragon nuzzled themselves against their companion's side, trying to offer as much comfort as they could like what Benjen was doing.
"Let it all out, Jon. Let it all out," Benjen ran his hands across his nephew's back, the tears bringing him back to when he had learned of Lyanna's death. Although he didn't have the relationship that Jon had with Chanhee, he understood the feeling and allowed whatever was happening to run its course. Just like he needed time when his older sister died, he would allow Jon to have his to mourn the loss of his first love.
Jon was now openly bawling, grabbing the rear of Benjen's armor as he collapsed on his knees, with his uncle following him. Although he had cried when Lord Joon told him that Ned Stark was dead, the grief that he felt then was nothing compared to what he felt now.
As Benjen's squadron captain started to oversee the mopping up of the surviving attackers, of which only two were caught, he was shocked to find imperial army-issued weapons on them, from the daos to even the tanegashima. He cautiously approached Benjen, who was trying to comfort his nephew as best as he could.
"Captain Stark," the squadron captain told him. "I don't think these are common raiders. They seem to be imperial cavalrymen, Goi by the looks of it."
Benjen processed this. "Cavalrymen in disguise?" he whispered. "Then… whoever told them to attack my nephew and the group did not have official sanction."
"Seems like it," the squadron captain nodded.
"What's going on here?" Sumeng moved his zorse to where Benjen, Jon, and the squadron captain were. Upon seeing his crown prince, the captain fell down prostrate on the ground.
"Your Imperial Highness," he said in reverence.
Sumeng walked past him and stood in front of Benjen. "Who are you?"
"Brigade Captain Benjen Stark, commander of the Northwest Army's flying column," he answered. "I take it that you're the Crown Prince."
"Captain, you have to address the Crown Prince accordingly," the squadron captain reminded him.
"It's all right, soldier. Like Prince Daeron, he is a stranger to these lands, so I should ignore any lapses in decorum," Sumeng replied. Looking at Benjen more closely, he immediately saw that they were related. "Are you his kin, Captain Stark?"
"I'm his uncle… Your Highness," he answered.
Sumeng nodded before he looked at Chanhee's body, sighing. "I must thank you for your intervention, Captain Stark. As much as I saw the zorsemen being able to defend themselves, it's good to finally see imperial troops, soldiers of the empire."
"Just fulfilling my obligations," Benjen kept rubbing Jon's back as he continued to cry.
"I think we should go to Trader Town now," Sumeng ordered Benjen.
However, the youngest son of Rickard Stark became upset at how the Crown Prince was ignoring all of the carnage around them because he wanted to go. "Your Highness, please allow my nephew a few moments. Don't you see who he lost?"
"All right, but no more," Sumeng gestured for the squadron captain to follow him.
"Come on, Jon. We have to go," Benjen said to his nephew. "We'll take her with us."
Jon wiped his eyes before nodding, while his uncle helped place her body on her zorse. With the surviving zorsemen now protected by Benjen's soldiers, they made their way down the Steel Road to Trader Town, while Jon kept his neck slumped in sadness but with less tears.
"Who gave you the orders to attack Sela and the Crown Prince in violation of the safe conducts I gave?" Joon asked one of the two surviving ambushers.
It took a lot of effort on his part to convince Sela the Hyrkoon that whatever happened to them did not take place without his official sanction, but her hesitance in accepting his hospitality was understandable given their attackers being imperial cavalrymen in disguise. Who had the nerve to defy my orders?
Once Benjen and his squadron captain handed over the two attackers, Joon had them both imprisoned in Trader Town's prison. He took one out from his cell and had him strapped to a wooden chair without a seat. Stripping him of his garments, he had a torturer heat up a pair of tongs and sear his asshole. There were no words to describe the kind of screams that the prisoner let out.
"Please, general. I needed the money," the prisoner pleaded.
"Who paid you then?"
"They're going to kill me if I tell you."
Joon grabbed his chin firmly. "You think I won't do that if you don't tell me? You've been caught without a uniform and you defied my orders. Both of those charges will lead to your death in the most excruciating way imaginable. You cannot escape it, but I am willing to commute your sentence to painless death if you tell me who paid you to attack the Jogos Nhai and the Crown Prince."
The Goi man gulped. "I will die?"
"You stupid bastard!" Joon scoffed. "What did you expect to happen after you've done these heinous crimes? I will find out the truth, one way or another, but if you make my tasks easier, I will make sure that you don't suffer. It is as simple as that."
The Goi man mumbled to himself indistinctively, fearful of another touch of the hot tongs. Sighing and accepting his fate, he turned to Joon. "It was General Feng and the Tiqui magistrate who paid us to do it."
"General Feng?" Joon wasn't overly shocked. "I should've known. And the magistrate, you say?"
"Yes, general."
Joon turned to the guard behind him. "Get word to the provosts. Tell them to arrest General Feng and the Tiqui magistrate. Kill any who might protect them."
The guard nodded before running off.
"For your cooperation," Joon turned back to the Goi man. "I sentence you to beheading. It will take place on the morrow." The Goi man sighed and closed his eyes. "Take him back to his cell and get him to write down his confession. We'll need it."
Joon didn't know need to know more about what General Feng and the magistrate had done. In truth, what the Goi man said merely provided him with the excuse he needed to remove them both from his side. The magistrate had been quite an annoyance for years now and General Feng was not exactly a good commander, but he couldn't just remove them without just cause.
At the same time, both of them disobeyed him and that was something that couldn't go unanswered. I'll hold a trial for the both of them, even though General Feng is in the army. He can be held for insubordination and even mutiny, while I could try the magistrate for murder and willfully endangering the imperial family.
He had the Crown Prince quartered in the garrison commander's house, where his first request was a bath. Not going to bother him, he went to the physician's pavilion, where Jon was at for sure. And his uncle.
He saw both the direwolf and the dragon sitting outside of the pavilion, with guards and bureaucrats alike being afraid to go near them. But since both knew who Lord Joon was and that it was his house that they stayed out, they allowed him to pass.
Sure enough, he saw Jon sitting near the side of the table where Chanhee's corpse was, the blood and dirt cleaned off and her being placed in clean clothes for her dignity. He was still bloodied and dirtied, but he didn't seem to care as he continued to look at the body of his love. He also saw Benjen sitting next to his nephew, trying to be the support that he needed.
Seeing Joon enter, Benjen stood up and at attention while Jon ignored him. But he did not mind, as he understood since he never saw Jon in so much sorrow.
"I have confirmation on who carried out the attacks," Joon said, catching Benjen's attention. "It was General Ikken Feng and the magistrate. I can only surmise that the magistrate wanted Jon and Chanhee dead after he humiliated him at Tiqui and he must've convinced General Feng to be involved possibly after getting a bribe. By the end of today, both of them will be in a cell and they will be tried accordingly."
"If that's the case, then why don't you just kill them?" Benjen wasn't going to let the two men who had endangered his nephew's life draw one more breath.
"Oh, I will make sure that they don't escape their fates, but it has done properly," Joon answered. "I also had the provosts cease their finding of Jon and Chanhee, since I believe the Crown Prince will provide extenuating circumstances."
"As it should, general," Benjen gestured to Jon. "My nephew must have retribution."
"Naturally," Joon assented as he turned to leave. "I'll let you know of the details soon."
He then made his way to the commander's pavilion, to see what the Crown Prince had in store for Jon. With the dragon and direwolf now revealed, he had to plan accordingly so that his hiding of Jon, Benjen, and Sam would not result in serious consequences for himself and his family.
Simultaneously, he prepared himself for Jon's emotional state. Thankfully, Joon did not experience what it was like to lose the ones he loved, but he knew that it would leave a person incapacitated for weeks at the most. That was something that he couldn't afford to let happen, as a prince of House Targaryen, especially the last male scion, had to stay alert and keep moving.
I'm not his father, but why am I concerned with how Daeron can get himself out of this?
A/N: And... we have Jon's first personal loss besides Ned Stark. For those that saw it, Chanhee was the Ygritte stand-in, and so, she had to die. However much pain Jon is feeling now, he will soon move on and meet the woman that he was meant to be with. At the same time, there will be obstacles and more pain before that can happen.
The magistrate and the Trader Town commander tried to kill Jon, but they only managed to earn his ire. And they shall pay for their shortsightedness. Chanhee's death will progress the Yi-Ti arc and plot forward, as Jon has to enter more danger and learn more things about survival before he can truly take the mantle as a Targaryen ruler.
The dangers can only increase from here, so Jon better step out of his stupor soon and move to meet the new threats that will come.
