Hello, I´m stil alive! Anyone else tired of being confined at home?
"What do you see?" Stannis asked the red woman, who stared at her fires. The great battle for King´s Landing was lost, but they still have some hope to crown. And that hope came with dragons, the dragons Melisandre said he would bring to life from stone. The Red Woman peeked into her fires once more, trying to extract something from the visions her God sent her way… nothing. Nothing more than snow failing from the sky over a white direwolf, who howled once, twice and then… a dragon emerged.
"It´s a little bit confusing" the priestess said after explaining her vision to the attending lords. Most of them were believer in the Faith of R´hllor, but some, like Ser Davos, were only there because Stannis believed in her prophecies. They were sceptics at most, vocally showing it when her god didn´t gave her enough to work with.
"I need answers, not riddles" king Stannis was also starting to get impatient with her, no matter that she helped him getting rid of his brother. Selyse tried to calm him down, grabbing his arm, but he shook her off. "If the Lord of Light doesn´t have anything else I can work with…"
"The Lord works in mysterious ways" Melisandre objected, trying to gain some time to analyse the message. Perhaps there was something she was not seeing. Or someone. The visions could always point her to someone. Maybe a person that was going to help returning the dragons to this world. "But there is one true, your Grace, you must leave King´s Landing for latter and conquer the North."
"The North?!" Axel Florent asked, with disbelieve in his voice. "Your Grace, don´t tell me you are going to hear that counsel. The North is unconquerable, too wild for us southerners to take. And Winter is coming, like the Starks like to say" the man shivered. "if it catches us there, our army won´t be able to stand…"
"The Wall is a good place to launch an invasion" the priestess continued, having seen the place in one of her latest visions. "I have seen that…"
"The Others are moving" Stannis rolled his eyes, not fully believing in the ice monster the red priestess warned them about, but he couldn´t disprove her either, so for now they were placed second in his list of priorities. "I don´t see why we should go to the Wall. Right now, even if we have not enough men to attack King´s Landing, to lose our position before defeating the Young Wolf…"
"Attacking his lands would make the boy do something rash that might cost him his life" another of the knights pointed out, a Florent one again. And an ardent follower of the Lord of the Light. "Besides, I have been thinking about the riddle Lady Melisandre offered us and… something has come to my mind."
"Speak then, Ser"
"I heard before that Lord Stark gifted his children with direwolfs shortly before King Robert went to Winterfell" the man continued, making everybody around him whisper. "Your Grace, it was also said that Lord Eddard sent his bastard son, the one that received the albino wolf of the pack, to the Wall at the insistence of his wife. I think the Lady´s visions are leading us to that same boy."
"Could be" Melisandre said, wondering if her Lord was guiding her to that specific boy and why. Not that it really mattered, because her god has already told her his will and she will obey. "The Starks… are they a royal family? Or were they?"
"Robb Stark is an imposter King…"
"My dear, Lady Melisandre is talking about before the conquest" Selyse intervened quickly, before her husband could get angry with the priestess. "And to answer your question, milady, yes, before the Targaryens came and formed the Seven Kingdoms, they were one of the oldest royal families in Westeros. Ruled over the North for thousands of years before kneeling to the dragons."
"Hummmm… a boy of no importance with royal blood in his veins. And very old, powerful blood" the red woman was suddenly understanding her Lord´s will. There was power in King´s Blood, power enough to bring the dragons from stone, especially if it was old enough. Like this Bastard of Winterfell´s. Yes, now she understood. He was the sacrifice to be made to give her Lord´s chosen his mount. As if on a que, the doors to the chamber opened, revealing men carrying a chest.
"My King" a Stormlander bowed. "We recovered this from Driftmark before the Lannister army took it" he opened the chest, revealing four round, scaly objects that left the whole room speechless. "Dragon eggs. Left by Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, firstborn of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, in their safeguard."
"Princess Rhaenyra" corrected Stannis, while Melisandre kneeled in front of the stones. The woman extended a hand as if to touch the eggs, only to retract it. This… this must be a sign. A sign that she was on the right path. She looked at her king, who was grounding his teeth and chastising the knight. "Call people by their right titles…"
"Ser…" she turned to the Florent knight that talked before, smiling sweetly at him. "Do you happen to know the name of the bastard you mentioned before?"
"I don´t know…"
"I do" someone else said. It was a particular Stormlord that escaped with Renly from King´s Landing, so he had been in court enough time to hear about the boy. "King Robert never stopped mentioning in feasts that he was named in honour of Jon Arryn" everybody looked at him as if they didn´t get him. "Jon Snow"
"Jon Snow, eh?" Melisandre said, already thinking about the victory of the Prince that was promised. Then she didn´t know how mistaken she was.
Anyway, she followed with her plans to meet and burn the bastard boy. Convincing Stannis to leave King´s Landing for later and take off to the Wall wasn´t as difficult as she thought it would be. The man got to the conclusion that the North was a strategic point on his own and decided to try take it, taking advantage of the Northern Lord´s isolation from their castles. Besides, if he could convince the Watch or the Savages to join him, he could amass enough strength to attempt conquering King´s Landing again. And if Jon Snow accepted his offer to be legitimized, he could also have the Northern Lords… once he has dealt with the Young Wolf.
But things never worked in the way they should. When he arrived, the Free Folk were preparing an invasion and Jon Snow in a cell, accused of treason. Stannis visited him there before his trial, refusing to accept defeat, but was refused by the boy, who angrily stated that Winterfell was the Stark´s. Melisandre also tempted him, receiving a similar answer. She gave up really quickly, something that surprised him. Normally she was a little bit more persistent than that.
Anyway, back to the trial, Ser Alliser had just declared the Bastard of Winterfell guilty of treason and condemned him to death. To death by hang…
"Excuse me, master of arms" the red priestess intervened in that moment, quickly gaining the attention of all the brothers of the Night´s Watch. Many of them looked at her with hungry eyes, others with annoyance, but no Thorne. He became angry at her interruption. "But, if King Stannis is going to give you his help with the wildlings, you should also give him something to help his campaign."
"The Night´s Watch doesn´t mingle with affairs of the…"
"Oh, no, I´m not suggesting you should" the lady said, still with a smile. "But if you were to execute the prisoner in a way that would serve our king..."
"What do you suggest then, milady?" asked the knight, suddenly more in tone with the priestess. Jon Snow was looking around in a panic, not knowing what to say. He hasn´t done anything wrong. The Half-Hand gave him a mission and he accomplished it, returning to the Wall with critical information, why was he being judged as a traitor?
"He is blood of kings and there is power in that. Enough to serve our King… as a sacrifice to the one true god" Melisandre sent him a look full of intention. "Burning him"
"Sounds good to me, who is with me?!" many raised their hands, if only to have a chance with the red woman. Jon couldn´t believe it. This was supposed to be an honourable call, not an order full of backstabbers willing to burn alive someone to flirt with a woman. He should have listened to Tyrion and back out when he could!
But it was too late now. The godswood beyond the Wall was chopped to build a pyre in the middle of the courtyard, one where Melisandre put the dragon eggs the knights stole from the Velaryons. Finally, in the afternoon, Jon was taken from his cell and guided to the place. The young bastard looked at it, but refused to flinch or show fear. He will face this execution like a man, even if he didn´t deserve it.
"My name is Jon Snow, I was a man of the Night´s Watch…" he said his own funeral prayer while he was tied up to the pyre, knowing that none other than his friends would said it for him. Perhaps Ser Davos too, only because he felt pity for him. "And now my Watch is over"
"Lord of Light!" Melisandre started to chant, calling for R´hollor to bring the dragons back to the world for his chosen one and bring him victory. The knights in Stannis service repeated her prayers, all of them but Ser Davos, who didn´t approve of this. "For the Night is dark and full of Terrors!"
"The Night is dark and full of terror!" the fire was light and the wood start to burn. The priestess watched as it grew and engulfed the boy, who refused to show any sign of weakness. The red woman continued looking, sure that the dragons would emerge any second. She was about to get frustrated when suddenly the fire roared, throwing her back. Phantoms started to appear around the pyre where the bastard was burning… not burning.
"Prince Rhaegar?" asked Ser Alliser to one of them.
"My son" this one said to the boy on the fire, who was not uttering a single word. "My poor, poor boy"
"No… NOOOOOOOO!" the knight started to scream when he realised he had just helped to kill one of the last scions of House Targaryen, then jumped forward to try and pry the boy from his post. Stannis unsheathed his sword, knowing that Targaryens were famous for being fireproof. If Jon Snow tried to attack, he was going to be ready. Janos Slynt and his pal also moved forward. Just in time to be obliterated when the pyre seemed to explode. Melisandre barely escaped, just to see her king being reduced to a burning body. Her eyes widened when she saw him, only for it to open even more when she saw the eggs opening, dragons emerging.
And she realised her error. Jon Snow wasn´t the sacrifice, Stannis was. The boy she just burned… was the Prince that was Promised. She has to save him. The woman immediately moved forward, praying to R´hollor that it wasn´t too late.
Meanwhile, Jon Snow didn´t realise what was happening around him. No, he couldn´t even keep his grasp on realty because his head… oh, his head! It hurt! And there were so many voices screaming inside of it! Who was he again? Which of them was he? The Blessed? The Cruel? The Conqueror? The Unworthy? The Unlikely? The Good? The Conciliator? Aegon? Egg? Brightflame? Aerion? Daeron? Aemon? Who, who, who? WHO?!
The dragons felt uneasy at their father´s madness and, unconsciously, used their magic to escape from that place, along with him, leaving behind an empty pyre. Melisandre watched in astonishment the pole her Prince used to be tied to, now empty. Where had he gone to? She had to find him…
-Time later-
"There has to be a way…" Robb rubbed his temples. He had never felt a worse headache than now, when he had to deal with the stupidities of his uncle Edmure and Walder Frey´s demands of a new bridegroom for his daughter, all after trying to find a way to recover the North from the Ironborn, which forced him to deal with Theon´s betrayal! And, on top of that, he received the news that he was possibly the last Stark alive, with concerning rumours coming from the North about Stannis burning Jon alive as an offering for his Red God.
"Robb" Catelyn entered her son´s tent now, worried that he had not slept since the last bit of news came from the North. While she never liked the bastard, she also didn´t wish him such a gruesome death. No one deserved that. And she suffered because of her son´s pain for the boy´s death. "Talisa told me you haven´t slept for three whole days"
"I have to concentrate, mother" the boy said, trying to block his thoughts. Because if he went to sleep, then he would lose this ability and the nightmares will come back. Dreams about Jon burning, Bran and Rickon dead in Winterfell, Sansa and Arya… "I need to plan this out"
"You can´t keep this on, sweetheart" the woman continued, embracing him. "I know we suffered horrible loses lately, terrible ones that scared your soul, but, my son, working yourself into exhaustion is not going to help you. Please, go rest…"
"I can´t, mother" he pushed her away, trying to concentrate, but failing, as his vision blurred. "It´s just that…" the boy sighed, turning to her. "I sent Theon to the Iron Islands. That Bran and Rickon are dead is my fault. And Jon… I never worried about him, thinking he was safe just because he was in the Watch" he shook his head. "They are dead because of me."
"Of course not, my son" the Tully mentally cursed the Greyjoy and Stannis for causing her boy this pain. "It´s Theon and Stannis who deserve such a title" she lifted his head. "Don´t torture yourself over that" the woman caressed him like when he was little, trying to soothe his hurts. It would have worked better if she hadn´t betrayed him by freeing the Kingslayer, something he couldn´t forget. Or forgive. "Go to your wife, eat and sleep. You will need your strength for the battle."
"I can´t…"
"Your Grace!" a soldier suddenly entered the command tent. "We caught a spy near the entrance!"
"What?" two other soldiers dragged a limp figure, who was mumbling under his or her breath despite the perilous situation it was in. Robb scrunched up his nose when the stench it reeked got to his nostrils. "We caught him in the back of the camp, stalking a provisions wagon. We questioned it, but he refused to answer" the leader of the group advanced. "Should we execute him."
"Not before I interrogate him" the King on the North answered, feeling like massaging his temples. He took in the man again, who continued mumbling incomprehensible words and playing with his hands. "This looks more like a beggar than a spy to me. Or a madman, in it´s case" he shook his head. "And you? What do you have to say in your stead? Are you a spy or a beggar?"
"Se skori ñuha lēkia gūrotan ñuha dāria hae ābrazȳrys, nyke limatan tears hen remorse, kesrio syt īles daor worthy hen gūrotrir īles given, yn nyke gōntan daorun naejot spare zirȳla bona vējes…" the man continued, his eyes fixed on the floor, his long shaggy hair dragged on the dirt.
"The King is asking you a question" one of the men rudely yanked the stranger´s hair, lifting his face for the King to see. Robb was about to scold the soldier for his rudeness towards the prisoner, but he was stopped when he saw the beggar´s face. The first thing he noticed was that his eyes looked absent, gone from this world. This man was clearly a mad. And then… he froze. "Your Grace? What is it? Do you want us to take him away?"
"Jon?" he dared to hope, pushing the soldiers away. He kneeled by the other´s side, lifting his face again, more gently, to see him better. And yes, it was definitely Jon Snow, despite all the grime and mud from his torn clothes. "Jon, brother, do you recognize me? I´m Robb" he continued trying to call him back to the real world, sounding more and more desperate by each failed attempt, while his mother stood by his side, her face frozen in a scowl so deep it looked permanent. Finally, he had to admit that he couldn´t recover his last brother with his strength only and listed himself. "Call Talisa to me, NOW!"
The soldiers ran away, not wanting to be in the angry king´s way after mistreating his brother in front of him. For his part, Robb grabbed a dagger and started to cut strands of hair, feeling pain on the inside. Jon has always been very much in love with his pretty hair, so it was painful to look it´s neglected state. As if it was another proof that his brother was not there anymore. The Queen arrived shortly after and immediately began to assess the damage, her husband talking small nonsenses to his mentally addled sibling, hoping to bring him back. Lady Catelyn, for her part, only glared at the boy, sure that he was lying.
"Well… I don´t know what to do" Talisa finally said, sighing. After bathing, shaving and cutting her patient´s hair he looked more like the Jon Snow her husband described from their childhood in Winterfell, but the boy that had once been there was gone, eradicated by whatever sickness was addling his mind. "I have heard about potions and herbs that help in this cases, but…"
"Talisa, please, be clear. Is there something to do for him?"
"I don't know" she bit her lip, distraught at her love´s pain. "His mind seemed to be somewhere else. I have heard of ceremonies in the Temples of R´hollor that can cause some temporary leave of senses, but this… never" she shook her head. "Whatever that red priestess did to him was worse than dead itself."
"Gods" Robb walked off, suddenly finding himself in the need to kill something. All his family seemed to be falling in front of him and he was incapable to save them. Sansa and Arya were lost to the Lannisters, Bran and Rickon to the Stranger and now Jon to his madness… was he doomed to be the last Stark standing? It certainly seemed so.
Meanwhile, Catelyn approached the bastard. She felt pity for him a few hours ago, but not now. Not when she had the living proof of her husband´s infidelity right before her eyes again, laughing at everybody´s expenses. And what a good actor he has become. He cheated everybody around him, but not her. She didn´t believe his madness act for a second, it was surely a ruse to steal the crown from Robb. Yes, that should be it, the boy must have allied with the Lannisters to betray them and now he was here, waiting for his chance.
"Cut your act" she ordered, but he continued to talk in low voice. Talisa tried to stop her, but Catelyn raised a hand, stopping her. "I said cut the crap! No one is believing your ruse, you can stop faking now!"
"Lady Stark…"
"I said you can stop now!" she grabbed the boy by his shirt, bringing him closer to her face.
"Pōntoma Zālaza" he said simply, then started to laugh as… well, mad.
"What?"
"I… I believe it´s High Valyrian" the Queen finally talked again, staring at her good brother in surprise. So that´s why the nonsense that came from his mouth was so familiar: he was talking in High Valyrian, a common tongue in Volantis! "Qilōni gaomagon jaelā naejot zālagon? sia ao zālagon?"
"Pōntoma Zālaza" he continued doing that, screaming and laughing as if it was a joke, then stopping and started to talk in a completely different voice, while starting to draw a map on the ground. "Daorys gīmigon ñuha tunnels hae nyke, daorys. Nyke ossēntan pōntoma sīr īlis ñuhon syt mirre jēda. Mēre iksis ilagon isse se vaults, skoriot īlva mounts ēdrugon, waiting syt pōja jēda naejot wake. another gō ñuha father´s statue, hen skoriot kostan rȳbagon tolvie single udir ñuha vali ivestragon…"
"What… What the hell is he saying?"
"Something about secret passages and statues and a keep… The Red Keep" Catelyn frowned. That map… was Maegor´s tunnels in the Red Keep? If this information was accurate, then they could rescue Sansa and Arya, but… since when did the bastard know them?
-Some time later-
Catelyn was quietly sipping her wine while her son tried to feed his bastard brother a piece of cake. She personally considered it a waste of time, just as Jon Snow´s presence in her brother´s wedding was, but Robb insisted in bringing him. To let him breathe some fresh air, that it was going to sit him well, said the boy, hopeful. She scoffed, but allowed it. After all, there was nothing anyone could do about madness.
Yes, you heard her well, madness. After a few months of evaluating the boy herself, asking her uncle and Riverrun´s master to evaluate him and much convincing, she finally was forced to admit that Jon Snow actually suffered madness and was not acting. The septon of Riverrun also had a role in making her accept that, because he remembered him that bastards were not only tricksters, but cursed too, so it was understandable that something horrible befall them. She accepted the diagnostic then and proceed to convince Robb to end the boy´s suffering or send him to a motherhouse, but he refused. It lead to an argument that ended with her boy screaming at her that Jon could not have the name, but he was a Stark and deserved to live in Winterfell. Really, she didn´t know what he was thinking. The bastard now needed continued care and Robb couldn´t take care of him and wage a war at the same time. Hell, he couldn´t even serve as his heir, as he first intended. No Lord would accept a madman as Heir to a King.
"Come on, eat a little" Robb continued while Jon mumbled in High Valyrian. Talisa was at his side, cutting his meal so he could eat something, ignoring the Frey approaching her from behind. This one smiled, pulling out the knife to murder her… but Jon Snow grabbed her suddenly and threw her out of danger, knocking Lothar off his feet.
"Nāpāstre!" he screamed at the top of his lungs and Catelyn didn´t need a translation to know what it meant.
"Treason!" she echoed him, managing to give the Northern lords barely enough time to take cover before the archers rained arrows on them. Robb dragged Jon to safety with one hand and Lothar with the other, as a hostage, putting a dagger to his throat to threaten his brothers and father. Catelyn took Aegon Frey, the simpleton, and did the same. She glared at the Lord, but contained her fury. Talisa and her grandson were okay, she could see that. Only for that, she was able to do so and start a negotiation with the lord.
Oblivious to the heated exchange, Jon Snow sung in High Valyrian:
"Ñuha dōna sīmontan hen perzys
ñuha dōna sīmontan hen suvion
ao qilōni peek rȳ se courtains hen jēda
arlinnon ñuha vējes, sīmonagon ñuha lentor
urnēptre nyke se truth hen perzys
vējes īlon ūndegon, vējes īlon kessa escape
ñuha sīmontan hen perzys se suvion
māzigon rȳ iā strange tegun, umbagon pyrys tolī
se conquer, reconquer isse se mōris"
The voices inside of him were now sounding as one, demanding the death of the traitorous Lord Frey and his brood. Lucid more now than in weeks, Jon Snow dodged the tables that protected the Stark bannermen before Robb could catch him and called.
The Freys didn´t put attention at first, willing to shot him down any second, but something changed. Four winged things entered through the window, chirping, calling. More joined, making everybody around the room gasp. Roose Bolton slipped his knife back into his hem when he saw the ethereal dragons the bastard convoluted, not willing to become their dinner. He will have to get rid of it before the northerners find it, but there won´t be a problem. At least not now.
"Dracarys" Jon Snow said with a voice that sounded like a hundredth and his dragons open fire on the Freys, while the Stark troops took that chance to escape the room, door destroyed by Balerion´s tail. Robb tried to get to him, but was dragged by the Greatjon out of the place.
"Your Grace!" Olyvar Frey, his squire, appeared once he was inside. He had been locked in a room all day after trying to warn his king, but managed to break free soon enough to help an injured Grey Wind escape the Twins alive. "My father… he was planning to…"
"I know… Lord Frey" Robb looked at the boy and he returned his look without understanding. Not until he saw the fire that was engulfing one side of the Twins. "Guess what? I name you the new Lord of the Twins now that your father died. And Olyvar?" the squire turned to him, still horrified at his family´s destiny. "Be more trustworthy than the last Lord Frey, okay?"
-Later-
Robb walked through the remains of the Twins Main Hall, searching for someone. The stone was melted in some parts, but the structural part of the castle seemed to have survived, so there was a chance that Jon was still alive, no? A sound caught his attention and he saw a known figure sat in the middle of charred tables. He approached carefully, taking off his cloak to cover his brother´s nakedness when he turned to him. And saw him.
"Robb?" Jon asked, finally there. The Young Wolf felt tears fall from his eyes and embraced him. or would have done if not for the tiny figures that chirped as they climbed his brother´s body. Dragons. Jon had dragons. "I believe we should talk"
Hope you enjoyed it! Well, this is a little different than many other dragons-born-at-the-wall fics, but it´s still plausible. I wouldn´t put past Melisandre to want to burn Jon for his royal blood if she think tha twould get Stannis dragons. After all, she wanted to do the same with Gendry and Edric Storm. Jon was easier a victim for her. And, obviously, it was destined to backfire on her. By the way, the song is based on Daenys the Dreamer story and is translated:
"My sweet rose of fire
my sweet rose of ice
you who peek through the courtains of time
change my fate, rise my house
show me the truth of the FIRE
Doom we see, Doom we shall escape
My rose of fire and ice
Arrive at a strange land, wait thousand more
And conquer, reconquer in the end"
Write to you later! Review!