THE BURDEN
He remembered the first time he felt the cold. It was like he will never feel warmth ever again.
He remembered those cold, emotionless blue orbs gazing right at his soul.
He remembered the anguish, the sadness, the grief and the anger when he realized what was happening.
He remembered a cold raspy voice saying, "YOU ARE MINE HARRY POTTER."
He remembered how he screamed at hearing those words
Harry woke up with a gasp. When he realized where he was, he calmed down and started breathing deeply.
It was the same bloody dream. Even after all this time, he remembered it like it happened yesterday. It was at times liked this he cursed his fate. Sometimes he really wanted to blame Dumbledore but he knew deep down that it was not old coot's fault he ended up like this.
He could easily see Eleanor sleeping beside him. She was naked just like he was. He passed his hand through her dark hair, which was currently dyed, into auburn color. She made some flimsy excuse about dying her hair and he pretended to accept them. He knew the real reason she did it but he kept quiet. It is not as if I don't keep secrets from her after all.
Only few people knew the true extent of his relationship with Ella. Harry made sure of that. However, most of them (except perhaps Balon) thought it was a purely physical thing. They were wrong. He cared about her. He did not love her but he cared about her a lot. He didn't even know if he was capable of loving anyone anymore. Moreover, he knew no one would be able to love him if they knew the things he did.
He wanted to escape but he knew he couldn't. He shivered in fear thinking about consequences if he even tried to escape. I have no choice. There is no escape.
Trying to divert his attention from those morbid thoughts, he took a moment to admire the form of the beautiful women beside him. She had an hourglass figure with decent amount of curves. Neither too much nor too little. She had long legs, which seemed to go on forever. She had a soft delicate face, which just looked angelic. She was beautiful; there was no doubt about that. He still remembered the first time they made love. They were in Storm's End where it was raining. He was three and ten name days old while she was five and ten. They were just talking speaking of silly things when he kissed her. One thing led to another and they spent whole night making love to each other.
However, she was not only his lover. More importantly, she was his best friend, his rock. She has been there for him ever since he was nine and he truly appreciated it. He knew there was a big chance that he might grow to love her. Nevertheless, that was a thought for another time.
Looking towards the window, he could still see it was dark.
He left the comfort of their bed, making sure not to disturb Ella, he knew won't be getting any sleep now. He never could go back to the sleep after that nightmare; he decided to go for a walk.
They had reached King's landing yesterday. His entourage had already taken residence in Kitchen's Keep.
While Royal family mainly stayed in Maegor's Holdfast, Harry did not like to stay there. There were too many secret tunnels there, which helped in spying. In fact, it had most of the secret tunnels in the entire Red Keep. Nearly half of them led out of castle in case Royal Family had to leave in emergency.
The entire Red Keep was made of pale red stone. It has seven massive drum towers each of which could house nearly 100 people. Inside the Keep were several gatherings halls including The Great Hall which acted as the Throne Room which could easily hold 1000 people at a time, The Queens ballroom and many more with Tower of The Hand and a sizeable Godswood,a Sept and several barracks with stables, kitchen. While not as big as Casterly Rock, Highgarden or even Winterfell, it was still an impressive piece of Architecture.
However, what most people didn't know was that the Red Keep was magically protected. Or at least it once was. There were several wards around the Red Keep but they had gotten weak in last 2 centuries or so. The oldest wards were around two hundred and eighty years old while latest were as old as two hundred and forty years. This proved that the Targaryens had magic. It was most likely that Visenya Targaryen knew magic and taught her son Maegor who did not teach anyone else. By all historical records, he did not look like someone who shared such power.
The wards were rather crude and weak compared the ones from his original world. He could easily destroy them. The wards had to be powered by Ley lines. Ley line were the place where the Earth (or in this case Planetos) released its raw magic. The wards needed an anchor, which used the raw magic from ground to power them. In his original world, people used Hearthstones for this.
From his research, he had found out the many major castles built by First Men such as Highgarden, Casterly Rock, Hightower and even Storm's End are built on Ley lines. They all had wards once. But the interesting part was that instead of Hearthstones, The First men used Heart trees of Gods wood. While he had never seen, The Wall or Winterfell he would bet his life that they were also built on Ley lines.
Red Keep is also built on a ley line. But it was unique because its anchor was not the heart tree, it was the Iron Throne. Only someone well versed in magic could recognize the runes on the melted swords. It was empowered by the magic from dragon fire.
He who holds the Iron Throne controls the wards and by extension the Red Keep.
But he doubted any King since Maegor had used the wards.
He walked around the empty hallways for a while. He saw sunrise from the battlements. When he returned to his chambers, he saw his bed empty. She might have gotten up already thought Harry. He saw that servants had already gotten the bath ready. He got out of his clothes and went into the tube. He leaned back relaxing.
After a few minutes, he felt soft hands on his shoulder.
"It was another nightmare, wasn't it?" Ella asked softly while giving him a massage. She had a soft melodious voice, which always soothed him.
He did not need to reply because they both knew the answer.
After a while, he got out of the bath. He saw his clothes lying on the bed. He had no doubt the clothes were selected by Ella. It was simple combination black pants and a black doublet with white cotton undershirt. While not as extravagant as clothes worn by his family members, it was classy enough.
As he was putting his clothes Ella said, "Perhaps talking about it will help."
He knew what she was talking about. It was not the first time she said that. But he couldn't tell her. He wouldn't. It was his burden to bear.
Flashing a quick smile towards her, he said, "Maybe some other time. I told Edric and Lyonel to be at training yard in early morning."
He gave her a small peck as he left the room before she could say anything
Outside his chambers, he was met with an armored Balon guarding the door.
"How long have you been standing there?" Harry asked curiously.
"Only for sometime Balon replied.
They both started walking towards the outer yard.
"You could have come in, you know." Harry told him.
"I didn't want to see something I shouldn't." He replied tersely
Harry just smirked. A few months ago, Balon had come into his chambers while he and Ella were …occupied for the lack of better term. He could not look at them for a week
Harry had known Balon since he was eight. He trusted him more than anyone in the world. He knew Balon would never betray him. That's why he was one of the two who knew about Harry's abilities not even Ella knew about that.
In the yard, they saw two boys waiting for them. But what was surprising was the 9-year-old girl standing with them.
"I do not remember telling you to come?" Harry asked the little girl.
The girl in question just shrugged and then replied, "I wanted to learn about strategies too."
Ever since the incident at cross road, the young Stark came to him nearly every day for lessons in sword fighting. In the end, he started giving her lessons with his squires. She surprisingly absorbed all the information like a sponge and hit rather hard for such a little thing. She even showed him her sword, which was named 'Needle' (He had a good laugh about that one). It was one of those rapiers like swords made for Braavosi Water Dancing. He told her while good for a duel, the sword and water dancing would not work against armored men.
He asked her one day if she had any friends as she spent most of the day with his squires. She told him that apparently Butcher's was her only friend. After the incident, he gave the Butcher 5 golden dragons and told him to take his son back North or else Joffrey might come after him. After that, he did not have the heart to tell the girl to leave his squires alone.
"Well we won't be learning about strategies and tactics now. Balon warm them up." He said to three of them while signaling his sworn shield to move.
For next two hours, He and Balon took turns in fighting against three of them while the other one pointed out their mistakes and weaknesses. Afterwards they took young ones in one of the chambers in Kitchen Keep and started teaching them.
"Today we will talk about advantages of know about terrain." Harry said to them at the beginning of the lesson
"The only reason that Dorne was able to stay independent for so long because none of our soldiers knew how to fight in desert." Harry told them. They spent next hour discussing the topic until Harry saw ser Alyn Estermont nodding towards him slightly.
"Well that's enough for today. I want you all to read 'The Conquest of Dorne' but remember Daeron exaggerated most of his victories." He told all three of them before sending them off.
He signaled Balon to follow him. . Before entering the room he summoned Elder Wand from one of his inner pocket and casted Muffliato charm to stop spies from hearing something.
Inside one of the rooms overlooking Blackwater Bay were Ser Guyard Morrigen who was leaning against the wall and Ser Alyn Estermont who was pouring wine in glasses on the table. He sat down on the chair opposite of Alyn.
"There are no little birds around. It's safe." Harry said taking one of the glasses. He noticed Balon standing behind him. He looked at two men before him.
Guyard was third son of Lord Morrigen of Crow's Nest. He was a handsome man with light brown hair and amber eyes. He was one of the Best swordsmen in Stormlands. The only one besides him who could defeat Balon in sword fight. While Balon would win if he had his Morningstar but it was a different matter with a sword.
Alyn Estermont meanwhile was eldest grandson of current Lord Estermont of Greenstone and a second cousin of his from his father's side. He had blonde hair and sea green eyes.
Harry considered both of these men good friends.
"He's buying it. He believes us when we say that we don't like to follow you." Alyn said after a moment.
Harry just smirked and took a sip of wine.
"Renly thinks that most of the knights you brought here are still loyal to him and would follow his command should you try anything." Guyard added sitting down beside him.
"We even added up jumped boy trying to be a lord." Alyn said with a smirk and received a stink eye from harry in response.
"What my uncle doesn't realize that he is Lord Paramount only in name. Let him think he is still in control." Harry said.
"He is rather over confident of himself keeps saying how storm lords follow him because of his charismatic personality while making bedroom eyes towards that flowery bastard. I even heard how he wants to make Margaery Tyrell your father's Queen." Alyn sneered while talking about the Tyrells.
Harry leaned back. The truth was the main reason that he had loyalty of Stormlords only because of his uncle.
The hatred between Reach and Stormlands was legendary. These two Kingdoms were constantly at war with each other before the Conquest. While the tensions did decrease after the Conquest. Relationships were cordial at best and outright hostile at worst. The Baratheons always had the advantage of being close to the crown. Then came Robert's Rebellion. The Stormlands rebelled while Reach stayed loyal. The armies of two kingdoms met at Ashford.
The battle was an absolute disaster for Stormlands. There was no other way to describe it. Of 10,000 men who fought for Stormlands only 6,000 made it out alive. More than one Stormlord lost a family member that day. Those that survived were hunted like animals while they tried to get to Riverlands through the Reach. And when they reached Stony sept they were ambushed by a Royal host under Jon Connington. Only 4,000 men survived before reinforcements arrived.
That was not all. While main Tyrell force laid siege on Storm's End many Reachlords burn and pillaged the lands. Many castles were sacked while most of the Army was at Storm's End.
When war was won many Stormlords wanted vengeance. They expected Reach lords to lose land. They expected rewards. They at least expected Reach lords to pay them.
They got nothing.
And they started to stop respecting Robert Baratheon. None of the Stormlords even got a position in court. The court was filled by westermen and Valemen.
Their hopes were raised again when their Lord Paramount was made Master of Laws. But instead of appointing stormlanders he began appointing men from the Reach. His relationship with Loras Tyrell was an open secret. He even spent more time at Highgarden than at his own seat. He had spent only a total of two months at Storm's End in last four years.
When his plans bought prosperity to storm lands, The Stormlords immediately began to flock towards him and offer him their fealty. Perhaps I should be thankful to Renly after all.
After spending the lunch with his friends, Harry went into his solar and commanded Balon to make sure no one disturbs him. Once alone in his solar Harry donned his invisibility cloak and left the Red Keep using one of secret tunnels. Once outside he transfigured his cloth to look like one of the small folk. He put some dirt on his face and messed his hair more. He made his way to fishmonger's square. He entered the inn named Padfoot's Inn.
He made his way towards back of the inn and sat opposite a brown haired man. The man also had brown eyes. There was nothing noticeable in the man. He seemed like a person who could easily blend in anywhere.
"How's it going Brus?" Harry asked the man with a cheeky grin
"Good." Replied the second cousin of current Lord Buckler.
"So what do you have for me?" Harry asked.
"We already controlled a fourth of the watch. While Spider, Renly and Littlefinger pay bribes to higher ups we are gaining more and more control over ground troops especially troops whose houses were built by James Evans." He looked at Harry pointedly who just smiled in return
He had been secretly Stormlanders to join City's Watch for quite some time. As for 'James Evans' he has been buying land in Flea Bottom under that alias for past 2 years. He had been rebuilding the slum making better homes for the people.
"There is something that might interest you." Brus said leaning towards him.
"And what that might be?" Harry asked curiously.
" One of our spies at Baelish's brothel told me that Catelyn Stark was in King's Landing. She met with her husband and Littlefinger before leaving this morning."
That surprised Harry. What was a woman who should be in North doing here? She probably arrived by the ship if she got here before Royal Party.
" Are you sure" Asked Harry receiving a nod in return.
"I want you to dispatch 2 riders with orders to watch her from a distance. Give them ravens to contact us in case of emergency. Tell them to follow her as far as the Neck. I have a feeling this will lead to something."
Walking in the Gods wood of the Red Keep was a thirteen-year-old girl. She had golden hair and green eyes.
Suddenly someone walked towards her from behind. He got close towards her ear and shouted, "BOO!"
She shrieked in fright and fell down. She was about to shout for help when she heard someone laughing.
She looked towards perpetrator who was laughing at her misery while leaning against a tree. She got angry and kicked him in shins.
" OUCH! Damn it woman that hurt." He told her while rubbing his shin.
"Well that will teach you not laugh at other." Replied Princess Myrcella Baratheon, the only daughter of the King and the Queen.
" You have to admit the look on the face was funny." Harry replied.
Myrcella just huffed indigently and looked away. She suddenly felt her brother's arm wrapped around her in a hug, which caused all her anger to melt away and return the hug.
When they finally parted, Myrcella asked him "What are you doing here?"
"Can't I come to see my sweet sister?" Harry replied with a looking hurt.
She just raised her eyebrows and questioned, "SO now you have time for me. After you didn't talk to me through the journey except greeting me."
"Ah so you did miss me." Harry said happily.
"As if." Myrcella said sniffing in the air with a look of arrogance in her face perfectly imitating their mother.
Both of the looked towards one another for a moment before they burst out laughing.
With they easily fell in a conversation walking through the godswood. Harry had always been closer with Myrcella than rest of his family. She was only two years younger than he was. She had all the beauty of their mother but none of her arrogance. She was rather intelligent and observant young woman. She often visited him in Storm's End often staying months there.
" So what are you doing in King's Landing?" She asked him all of a sudden. He stopped walking for a moment in shock before settling for raising an eyebrow towards his sister.
"Don't give me that load of tripe about wanting to return home. You could have used magic to return anytime. However, you specifically returned after Lord Arryn's death. Why?"
She also was the second person who knew about his magic.
At her questioning look, his hardened and his face became blank. He looked towards great oak heart tree and said-
" Stark's words are true sister. Winter is coming. And there is a Storm coming with it. And I will do anything to make sure that the people who I care for survive it."
SO PEOPLE WANTED LONGER CHAPTER SO I HOPE YOU LIKE IT.
I HOPE I DID NOT BORE YOU TALKING ABOUT WARDS AND MAGIC. BUT I THINK THAT FIRST MEN REALLY HAD MAGIC OR ELSE DEAFEATING OTHERS WOULD HAVE BEEN NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE.
SO AS YOU CAN SEE HARRY HAS MAGIC AND HIS PREVIOUS MEMORIES BUT HE IS NOT AN OP MOD HARRY WHO GOT BORED WITH HIS WORLD AND WENT THROUGH VEIL OR ANYTHING ELSE. HE IS NOT SUPER STRONG MAGICALLY BUT HE IS NOT WEAK HE DOES USE MAGIC BUT NOT MUCH.
AND MYRCELLA IS OLDER BECAUSE I REALLY WANTED HARRY TO HAVE A EMOTIONAL CONNECTION WITH AT LEAST ONE FAMILY ,CERSEI AND JOFFREY ARE OUT FOR OBVIOUS REASONS AND TOMMEN WOULD BE TOO YOUNG WHEN HARRY LEFT FOR STORMLANDS. SO MYRCELLA IT IS.
PLEASE REVIEW AND IF YOU THINK I MADE A MISTAKE SOMEWHERE PLEASE TELL. THANK YOU.