Dragons and Thrones: An Unusual Union
Chapter 15 of my Crossover story, enjoy :)
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin. Dragon Age belongs to Bioware.
Eddard
Eddard Stark sighed as finally, he finished packing away everything that he would be taking with him when he left.
'Still, it doesn't make things any easier…Sansa must stay, stay here, in danger, worse still she is oblivious to the danger.' He thought sadly. 'Not only that, Arya's still missing and…Gods only know what's happened to her; I can only hope she can be found safely. With any luck, Arya will find her way back home, rather than here.'
He knew he had to have faith; Arya was resourceful, clever and she had Syrio's training. Ned was also hopeful that Syrio, who was also missing, was still with her; at least then she'd have someone to help her.
He composed himself and straightened up. 'This is it; I can only hope Sansa can stay strong. When everything begins; she will become a prisoner. We may need prisoners ourselves; or find some means to rescue her.'
Everything depended on him getting away from King's Landing and, with a bit of luck, reaching home, or at least the Riverlands, before Stannis made his move. Everything had been taken care of in terms of packing and ensuring everything would be ready, he just needed to go through the formalities in the throne room.
So he left and made his way there now.
He reached the throne room and entered; the place was full; he might have guessed.
'No doubt Joffrey intends to try and turn this against me, making it some sort of spectator sport.' He noted.
Still, he remained nonplussed and walked down the throne room, ignoring the eyes of the nobles upon him. He reached the base of the steps leading up to the throne and bowed.
"So, Lord Stark; you still intend to go through with this?" Joffrey inquired. "You intend to leave us and your duties behind."
Remaining calm and ignoring the others in the room, Ned spoke. "Yes Your Grace, as I explained in our last meeting. I must resign as Hand of the King; everything that has happened, regarding the explosion and the things that have occurred in its aftermath, has changed things."
Joffrey sneered. "Oh of course; yet you may be needed here."
"I am sure there are others who could be of use; perhaps even better than I, Your Grace." He replied. "The place I am needed most right now is Winterfell."
Joffrey's sneer faded, clearly annoyed, but with no other option he composed himself. "So be it; you are free to go, Lord Eddard Stark, I formally relive you of your duties as Hand of the King."
Eddard bowed and replied. "Thank you Your Grace; I shall take my leave at once. As agreed however, my daughter Sansa will remain here as your betrothed."
"Good; oh and if your other daughter should be found, we'll send her home to you." Joffrey replied with a grin.
'After you've done something to hurt her no doubt.' Eddard thought darkly; knowing all too well Joffrey's animosity towards Arya. But he remained calm and replied. "Thank you, Your Grace."
With that he bowed and left.
Ned sighed to himself as he joined the rest of his household, all ready to leave. Sansa had come to see them off, still smiling, still so blissfully unaware of the danger. She had just finished saying goodbye to Jeyne Poole.
"It's a shame you feel you have to leave father." She said. "Will you at least come back for my wedding?"
Ned struggled to remain composed; afraid for Sansa. "I shall do my utmost Sansa…Hopefully your sister will have returned to us by then too."
Sansa nodded; her expression changing slightly. "Hopefully; I miss her greatly. Don't worry, if she comes here we can send her home."
"Yes." He replied; still keeping his thoughts to himself.
He mounted his horse and soon he and his household, minus his daughters, began to make their way back home. As he rode he continued to fret for his daughters, knowing they both faced danger, different dangers true, but danger nonetheless.
'Worse still, there is nothing I can do for them but pray. Sansa at least I know where she is; I still have a chance at saving her…But Arya…'
He took a deep breath and focused instead on making his way home; he had to hurry, especially after everything he had heard about the Lannisters attacking the Riverlands. He only hoped things would be resolved before long.
He knew only that there had been fighting, that his own son had led his armies against the Lannisters at Riverrun, that Tyrion had been released and had made his way back to his family; at the same time, he received word that his wife was with Robb and the army. He hoped to meet up with them and get the full story.
Thankfully, the first people Eddard met upon the road, was his bannermen, along with his son and wife. They were all surprised to see him and he them, it was clear however that there had been fighting.
"Father…" Robb gasped as he stood.
Ned smiled and dismounted. "Robb; I heard about this; I'm glad to see you are alright. I trust everything went well then?"
Robb nodded. "Yes father; we were victorious, in both battles we fought."
"I need to know everything that's happened, what's changed and how things currently stand." He remarked at once.
Robb nodded and soon everything was underway, his household that had been with him at King's Landing joining up with the army. Robb and the bannermen made their way to the large commander's tent; Cat remained behind however.
"Ned I…" She whispered softly.
He smiled and gently kissed her. "I know Cat; I missed you too."
She relaxed gently into his embrace. "I'm just glad you are safe…But Ned, what about the girls?"
"I'll tell you all soon, let us go." He replied sadly.
She nodded and they made their way to the tent. As they did so, Ned wondered why Robb seemed so uncomfortable upon seeing him.
There was a long silence after Ned heard from everyone. It was stranger than he thought; there had indeed been fighting against the Lannister forces.
One battle at Whispering Woods and another at Riverrun itself; both had ended in victory for the Northern Armies; yet after Tyrion's return to the Lannisters and a raven arriving from King's Landing, an armistice was declared and the Lannister army returned to the Westerlands.
"It's all very strange, father…" Robb remarked.
Ned nodded. "Yes; but I wouldn't see it as the end of hostilities just yet; rather a reprieve."
There were whispers from the bannermen at that; Robb looked worried too. He had told them about all that had happened in King's Landing too; Catelyn immediately became fearful for Sansa and Arya, but it was clear the only thing left for them to do was return to Winterfell and prepare for what would come next.
As they prepared to leave, Ned noticed something, amongst the camp was a cage within that cage was two people; boys in their mid to late teens, both with blonde hair, they were chained as prisoners, seated back-to-back and blindfolded. They had a few nicks and scratches but were otherwise unharmed.
"Who are they?" He asked Robb.
Robb turned and saw who his father was talking about. "Prisoners father; we captured them during the battles; squires…Martyn and Willem Lannister."
That caught Ned's attention. "Valuable squires then…Kevan Lannister's sons. As I said, things will become dangerous again soon…We'll need prisoners, we'll keep them with us for now."
Robb nodded before considering and then asking. "Father, what about the Elves I told you about. I'm still not sure what we can do about them?"
"We'll deal with things when we return to Winterfell Robb. There's no need to worry about it." He reassured him.
Robb nodded and seemed to relax, but only slightly. Later, mounting his horse, Ned rode, alongside his wife and son, leading his armies and household home.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.
Well, next up, we will see the first chapter of the final POV character for this story.