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Since the last chapter was so small, I decided to give you another one sooner! let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
Chapter Seven – Age 26/27
VII
'Dear Family,
I hope you are all well. Is Bran finally sleeping through the night? I hope so. All my cute nephews and nieces need their beauty sleep.
The wall is amazing. It is so tall, that if you stand on the foot of it, you can't even see the top. On a bright day the ice and the sky can get confused with each other, and it seems to go on forever.
It is quite cold, but since it is still summer, it is still quite comfortable. You squirts should be happy you have never seen winter before!
Anyway, things are interesting right now, although a bit boring, I must admit. I will write again when I have more news.
Keep up with your training!
Lots of hugs,
Uncle Ben'
'Hed,
The watch is weird. Too few people for such a long stretch of ice has left its marks after all these years.
Too little people volunteer anymore. There are so many thieves, rappers and murderers that sometimes I feel like I have to watch my back. Not to mention the loyalists. The stares they send me are terribly annoying.
Honestly, I am feeling doubts about doing my vows at all. It would take me years to become a ranger, and I feel myself becoming restless just in the few days I have been here. Essos offered more adventure then the wall, and that is not saying much, considering I spent my time in meetings with pompous men.
I've been considering just going out on my own to discover the land beyond the wall. There is no law against it after all.
Don't worry though. I will think it through and not make any rash decisions. And yes, I will take some men.
On another note, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont – who by the way sends you greetings and well wishes for the children – came to me with many thanks for sending some Company men to Bear Island and for having created the base in Skane. The Watch has been doing a lot of trading with the Company of the Rose stationed there trough East Watch by-the-Sea. I told you making Aaron Snow captain of that contingent was a good idea. It leaves you with Brandon free to do anything you wish, and allows you to Keep the Skagosi happy, since they see familiar faces all the time, even if you rotate the Company members stationed in the base.
On another note, your foster brother Jeor Mormont sent a raven to the wall with news of wildlings trying to pick at their shores. It is good to see that even though the presence of our fleet is still not very strong, it is enough to scare them off in conjunction with the Company.
I send you my best regards, sister. Know that you might see me sooner than you think.
With love,
Ben.
"Oohhh, uncle Ben is so cool!" Arya squealed. "Is he going beyond the Wall? Does he say?"
Sansa huffed, looking over her brother's shoulders. "No, Arya, He just says the thing is very tall."
"The wall is not just tall." Rodrick said, frowning. "It's amazingly tall, and it stretches until forever!"
The girls quickly got into an argument with their brother on the impossibility of any wall stretching on until the sky, while John turned to her.
"What does uncle Ben say in your letter, Mother?" Jon asked her, with and excited smile.
It had been a bittersweet day, when Jon and Rodrick in all their six-year-old glory, had pronounced themselves too old for words like 'mamma' and 'papa' and instead decided that Heddara and Rohar were now 'Mother' and 'Father'. They were growing fast, tough Heddara tried to look on the positive side of things: Jon still considered them parents, even though he now understood the seriousness of his situation.
He had recently been told about who his true parents were. While Rohar had been nervous about his age, Heddara had decided to follow the promise she had silently made the child when he had been but a babe. She would tell him, if not others, as soon as she was assured of his safety.
With the Moat now at full military capacity – even though the inner Keep was still under construction – and the ports in the east and west mostly completed, Heddara had ordered one fourth of her fleet west to join the few boats already being built in Deepwood Moat.
As soon as she had received word of the safe arrival of her ships, Heddara had taken her oldest son and her nephew on a walk in the godswoods and deployed several guards to make sure they weren't overheard.
"Uncle Ben is a bit bored at the wall, after all the excitement of Essos." She told him with a smile.
Six years had been more than enough for her army of small animals – rats, mice, squirrels, rabbits, cats and all kinds of otherwise innocuous and fluffy creatures – to sniff out most of the spies in her court.
It had taken a few months, and her confinement with her oldest son giving her enough time to practice – carefully, to not expend too much energy, of course – but she had managed to hone her waring skills to their maximum potential.
For the bonded animals closest to her, she no longer needed to be completely connected to them in order to hear and see what they did.
It had started with figuring out how to voluntarily access the subconscious warging she had done with Storm at the Battle of the Bells. Once she had understood and mastered that skill, she had then figured out how to do the same, but on a... loser level. She had no wish to have hundreds of animals constantly whispering on the back of her head.
What she wanted was to Keep a very loose and thin connection with them, so that if they heard or saw certain words, they could 'call' her to them. Difficult, but possible.
Every animal she touched with her mind, she could find anywhere they were in Westeros. The closest they were the easiest it was to command them, but she could always feel them. What she had needed was for the animals to reach back on their own. Hard to do when she wasn't bonded to them on the same level she was with Storm or Haros.
In the end, she had opted for quality over quantity, at least in the beginning. She had taken the time to bond with several birds and squirrels she had called to her over several days and trained them to react to certain keywords.
With those small friends spying for her in the godswoods and the forest surrounding Winterfell and Wintertown, she had turned to more domesticated animals to Keep an eye – and ear – on her Keep.
Rats had been promptly abandoned in favor of cats. The animals were much smarter, and as 'top' predators in their domestic habitat, usually had a much longer life span – a lesson she had quickly learned as most of her spies in the Red Keep were now dead, leaving only a few stray cats and smarter mice for her to warg into.
The results of her work had been very satisfying.
The information she received had allowed her to root out most – if not all – spies within her household guards and servants. All of those discovered had been thrown out to the streets after a very public, and humiliating, punishment, or even execution.
Spying on the Northern Royal family was, after all, a crime of treason, and all the spies of northern descent had been accused of such. The penalties distributed by Lord Umber as her Magnar of Laws had been in accordance to the servant's position and the type of betrayal involved. If a spy was found to be an unknown entity, as she suspected most of those connected to the Spider were, then Heddara had ordered them sent directly to the wall, in order to Keep them from coming back.
All but two, that was.
Two men she had used as examples. One she had been able to ascertain to belong to the Spider, the other had been under the employ of the Lannisters. Both had been guards, one in Winter Town and the other on the Keeps walls contingent, which was a serious breach in security that could not be allowed to happen ever again.
Rohar's fury when she had informed him had been immense. Those guards had been under his command, and for them to accept bribes for information was a treason not only to the crown but to his command. He had asked her to allow him to execute the punishment himself, and she had done so, knowing he understood the need to make an example out of them.
As always, he had been brutal and efficient.
Enough to say that the entire population of Winter Town and almost the full contingent of guards stationed in the city and the Keep had been given a show that they would soon not forget.
No one would be accepting a bribe to turn spy without thinking twice now.
Rohar looked out the window, smiling at his children playing in the courtyard.
Jon and Rodrick were now old enough to start their lessons in arms and had been gleefully showing off to their sisters.
At four and two and a half name days old, his girls were just too young to hold anything larger than a fork, and therefore looked absolutely adorable dragging around their brothers' old wooden play swords, as they tried to emulate their mother.
At his feet, Storm raise his head, before laying back down, deeming whatever noise he had heard as unthreatening.
"My Prince Consort, my Queen" Turning, he saw Maester Luwin at the entrance to Heddara's solar.
"Maester Luwin." Heddara greeted from behind her desk.
The man bowed "An urgent raven just came in."
Heddara accepted the parchment from her Maester, opening up to read it. Seeing her face go pale at whatever news she had read, Rohar straightened up from his slouch against the window.
"Maester Luwin, call an urgent council meeting. Rohar, I need your help with writing letters for every Keep in the west."
The Maester took no time in sending guards and pages all around the Keep and Winter Town in search for the members of the council.
Lady Tallhart and Lord Cerwin were in town. The Lady on shopping trip for more paper and books for her accounting, and the Lord on a meeting with various Guild houses.
Lord Karstark had been out with Jonah Snow on an inspection of the new heating system of the town. After the old and decrepit houses had been acquired by the crown, rebuilt and sold out, the Order of infrastructure had focused on an effective sewer system. With that recently completed, they were now expanding Winterfell's heating method that already encompassed the higher classed districts of the town into the rest of the North's capital.
Lord Bolton, Lord Dustin and Lord Manderly were currently in their own Keeps, so pages had been dispatched to call in their secretaries from their offices.
The easiest had been Lord Umber. Having just arrived the day before to give a report on his last months of work, he had been called in from the back courtyard, were he had been putting one guard after the other into the ground.
All in all, forty minutes after the Maester received the Queens orders, the Winter council met in urgency.
"I bring you here for a very urgent matter." Heddara stated gravely. Beside her Rohar face set into a scowl, having already been told the grave news. "Flints Fingers has been attacked by Ironborn."
The room went up in an uproar, as those present expressed their outrage at the news.
"Silence!" Heddara ordered, her own fury at the attack making her patience shorter. "Letters have been sent to every Keep, with special attention to the Keeps and villages on the west coast."
"My Queen" Lord Cerwin called when she took a moment to center herself. "Was it only Flint's Fingers that was attacked? What was the damage?"
Heddara's face was hard as she answered. "Our southern west coast was hit in what appears to be random attacks. Barrowtown could be in danger if those bastards try to sail up the river. Flints Fingers was hit hard but the Keeps defenses stood strong. The town was not so lucky. Anyone not fast enough in running for the Keep was slain or taken, and the squids had no qualms in destroying anything in their path."
Lord Umber slammed his fist on the table in rage. "You should call the banners my Queen. Those squids should be burned out of the map once and for all!"
Voices in agreement were raised all around the room, as the Lords present showed their thirst for blood.
Heddara raised her fist, calling for silence once more.
"I have called the banners. However, we cannot march just yet."
"Why in the Others can't we, my Queen!" Great Jon asked, With another slam of his giant hand on the table.
"Because the Iron Islands belong to Baratheon." Heddara Said with a sneer. "And as per the treaty we signed, I can't attack his territory without first giving him a chance to solve the problem himself."
"Ah!" Robert Baratheon laughed, before picking up his cup and taking a big gulp of Arbor Gold. "So, the squids are taking it up with those bastards in the North?" He let out another laugh.
Jon Arryn frowned. "We should do something about it, Robert"
Maester Pycelle let out a small huff. "It is not like they killed anyone that mattered, is it? We wouldn't be breaking the treaty if we let those barbarians deal with it themselves."
"According to my little birds, only a few smallfolk died in the attack and some houses were destroyed." Varys supplied, his face a mask of serenity.
Robert's face transformed, as a smirk stretched his lips. "I say let the squids and wolves go at it! If the gods are with us they will kill each other!"
He raised his cup in a mock toast to the seven, and promptly drained it.
"Ben,
The Ironborn attacked Flints Fingers. It is likely they will strike Barrowton and the fishing villages along the coast.
I sent word to Baratheon, but truthfully, I don't expect him to do anything but drink in celebration.
In any case, his inaction will give us reason to attack our enemies. Ravens have already been sent to call the banners.
It pains me to do this when I have just released you, but if you have not yet taken any vows, I would call you home to act as Regent while Rohar and I are away.
Fear not, little brother. I have no intention of dying and leaving you stranded in Winterfell until Rodrick comes of age.
With love,
Heddara.
For the first time in six years, the Lords of the North were once again gathered in Winterfell.
Heddara sighed, before calling for silence.
"The Company of the Rose has already been deployed to the most vulnerable positions" She announced, cutting the ongoing discussion about the situation. "Baratheon is washing his hands of the Ironborn, so that means it is up to us to bring them to heal."
Murmurs went around the hall at her words.
"My Queen, I understand the need to protect our coast, but surely attacking the Iron Islands is going to far." The old Lord of Oldcastle stated. "Attacks from Ironborn are nothing new, after all."
Lord Umber snorted. "And just because of that, we should just flop on our belies and take it? They steal our trees, our women and our harvest, and we should just ignore it?" He spit out and glared at the old man. "The Others take you man, I'm gonna kill those squids and dare any of them to come up here ever again!"
Roars of approval went around the room.
"I agree" Said Jorah Mormont, sitting at the other end of the hall. Beside him, his aunt Maege nodded. "Bear Island has been a frequent target of those pirate scum. I say we deal with this problem once and for all."
Heddara nodded. "Lord Locke" She said, calling out to the old Lord. "Even if what you say is true, those years of ignoring the issue of the Ironborn raiding our lands are over. That happened while we were under another's rule. And that is no more." The man nodded, looking chastised.
Heads all around her nodded in agreement to her words.
"There is also another, more important reason." She looked around the hall, making sure to look each Lord in the eye. "This is not just a raid. This is an attempt at conquering land."
She raised her hand to stop muttering between the Lords. "Ravens arrived just before this meeting started. There were attacks in Barrowtown. Luckily, as they were well prepared due to the warnings from Lord Flint, there were no great causalities, and they are holding against a siege. The fishing villages in the Stony Shore were not so lucky." She narrowed her eyes. "But most importantly, Victarion Greyjoy attempted to sail up the Fever and capture Moat Cailin."
Shouts of outrage were heard all over the great hall. To try to conquer the Moat was a war declaration in everything but name. The Moat was the door to the North, and if it fell, the defenses of the Kingdom would be compromised.
"Fear not. The Moat stands. Greyjoy expected a ruin and found a fortress with a Dragon head mounted over the south gate." She smirked. "He probably believed that any repairs done were focused on the still standing towers. From what Mors Umber reported, they were easily beaten. After they sent up flaming arrows and burned a few ships, the Ironborn went back the way they had come from."
After the Lords had calmed down, and an agreement on movements was reached, she turned to her good brother. "Lord Bolton, I will entrust you with provisions. We can expect a relatively quick campaign, but I do not wish to be caught by surprise."
Roose nodded. "I will move supplies towards the west and Keep them under heavy guard."
"Good." She raised her hand and stroke Storms head, that had risen over the table to look over her subjects.
"We leave on the morrow. Let's get us some grilled squid."
The roars of approval could be heard all the way in Winter Town.
"What news of the Ironborn situation do you have for us, Lord Varys?" Jon Arryn asked, as the latest council meeting came to a close.
Varys smiled gently at the men present. As usual, the King had found other things to entertain himself with, leaving his Hand to lead the meeting.
Good thing for Lord Arryn that he had an heir to take care of things in the Valley, or his affairs in that Kingdom would have spiraled out of control eventually. As it was, it had taken quite a long time for Elbert Arryn to have a child of his own, having just had his first son the year before.
Lysa Tully's previous dalliance seemed to have left some damage on her person.
"The Ironborn attempted to attack Moat Calin but were repelled by the normal garrison stationed there, I believe the commander at this time is once again Mors Umber. The Company of the Rose is stationed along the coast between the Stoney Shore and the Fever River. The last I heard, Heddara Stark herself is riding to Deepwood Mote in order to sail to the Iron Islands with half of her numbers. The other half has been sent along to coast to Relieve the Company in protecting against further attacks, so they can join their Queen at sea." Varys said, a twinkle in his eye. Heddara Stark might have put a wrench on his plans, but he had to admit the woman was an incredible Queen and battle commander. Not only that, but time and time again she found ways to ferret out his little birds.
No matter. As much as Heddara Stark might be hard to spy on, war made keeping track of people a lot easier.
"So, she plans to take matters to them?" Stanis Baratheon frowned. "That is a very dangerous move. The Ironborn are notoriously strong at sea."
Varys hummed in agreement at his words. "Maybe, my Lord, the northerners wish to fight them on land."
Stanis turned to him, his frown deepening. The man truly had a dower face. At least his wife made him unwind a little bit in private, if his numerous children were anything to go by.
"Have ravens been sent to warn the Riverlands and Westerlands that the Ironborn were active?" The master of ships asked. "We never know if they decide to change tactics."
Maester Pycelle shifted nervously. "Well, my Lord, I did write them as you ordered, but the King said not to bother sending them..."
Lord Arryn's face mirrored Stanis Baratheon so perfectly, that Varys wondered if they had trained it. "That is a grieve oversight. Send them as soon as this meeting is over."
The Maester nodded, looking chastised.
The meeting proceeded as expected as the Lord Hand moved the conversation to other topics, until they were interrupted by one of the Grand Maester's helpers arriving in a hurry and out of breath.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, my Lords!" The man said, gasping for breath. "But an urgent message just arrived from the Rock!"
He extended the parchment towards Lord Arryn, who took it and immediately turned white at the contents.
"What is it?" Asked Barristan Selmy.
"Lannisport has been attacked. The Lannister fleet is almost all gone in flames."
"How dare those disgusting, slimy, squids, attack the seat of my family! This will not stand!" The blond Queen screeched at her husband, her face contorted by rage. "You better do something about this!"
The man sneered. "I'm doing something about it, aye. I go to war." He rolled his eyes at his wife's screams. "You should be happy that at least your brother is finally seeing some action. Being an heir is certainly much more boring than a member of the Kingsguard. He probably hasn't had a decent fight in years"
He smartly decided to leave the room before the woman could start yapping at him again.
Everyone is asking about how the south is reacting to certain things. I intend to write na annex where verything will be told! :)
For now, everything is focused on the North and on other importante points of view needed for this story.