Outsider Chronicles: A Song of the Nights Sky
Being reborn. Fine. Being reborn as a Stark. Annoying since I hate the cold, but fine. Finding a magic Tome in the library? You're really starting to push it here. How does the addition of a magic slinging Stark with a slightly broken sense of humor and his Knights change the Game of Thrones? Drastically.
So we're back. I don't really think I have anything I need to cover here, so we can dive head first into my personal brand of insanity. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
I hate getting woken up early, especially when the reason for the early wakeup call was for something like an Execution. And yet, here I am, riding alongside my Father and brothers, as well as a number of warriors and my own Wolkenritter out to the execution place where Father would be passing judgment on a deserter of the Nights Watch. This wasn't the first time, being the Second son of Lord Stark saw to that. In fact, my first was when I was just ten, just like Bran. Since then, I had seen far more than I ever wanted to, some necessary, others meaningless. It didn't really help my bad mood that the fact Bran was with us meant that it was time for the events of the Game of Thrones to begin.
"Are you OK Brother?" asked Robb, riding up behind me.
"No, I am not," I grumbled, "I understand why Father brings us out, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."
Robb patted me on the shoulder. All my family knew what I thought of the whole thing because I often complained, very loudly, but it wasn't like there was anything I could do. The law was the law and, unless I wanted to take the Iron Throne (Which I wanted as much as I wanted a Warhammer to the skull), there was nothing I could do to change it. I felt my Knights telepathic presence wrap around me, providing what comfort they could and Zafira, who was trotting at my horse's side, brushed up against my leg. I sent back my gratitude, shooting a look back at where Signum and Vita were sharing a mount.
That was actually a big problem we ran into a shortly after I gained the Tome. Due to what they were, Programs from the Tome, the Wolkenritter didn't age like normal humans. There was some debate amongst us as to whether they even could age, but that had caused a major problem with Vita. Signum and Shamal weren't hard to brush off as good breeding and no one noticed Zafira, but everyone would notice that Vita failed to age along with me. We ended up just slapping a spell I found in the Tome that caused everyone to ignore the little aging problem, although there had been a few close calls and I noticed Arya kept giving her odd looks, as if she was instinctively fighting the enchantment or something. Still, that was a relatively minor problem that had been fixed, so I wasn't to worried.
I wrenched my mind back to the present as we arrived at the small knoll and were met with the Guards who had the ragged looking deserter in chains. He responded to Fathers questions with surprising clarity and clearly still had some pride as he didn't beg for his life, instead accepting his punishment with only a request that his family be told he died honorably. Father drew Ice and stood with his head bowed, reciting the words I'd heard so many times. I watched as he lifted the great sword and brought it down, sending the head rolling with a spurt of blood. I scowled as Theon kicked the head away with a laugh. I'd never really liked the Greyjoy, although that may have something to do with his arrogant attitude, although that was somewhat tempered by the knowledge of what his future held. We got on fairly well, but weren't as close as Theon and Robb were.
I was actually closer to Jon, who seemed to appreciate having someone who could match him blow for blow in the ring, even if I did prefer my staff over a sword. I think it helped that I didn't give a shit if he was a Bastard due to my past life.
I rode next to Bran as we started heading back to Winterfell as our older siblings and Theon rode off towards the bridge.
"Are you OK?" I asked.
Bran nodded.
"Yes, I am," he said.
"I hate seeing lives wasted so," I muttered.
"As do I, but it is my duty," said Father as he rode up beside us, "Do you know why I did it Bran?"
"He broke the Law."
"He did, but do you know why I had to swing the sword?"
"Because our way is the old way."
Father nodded.
"And the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword," he said.
"If you condemn a man to die, the least you can do for them is look them in the eye when they die," I muttered.
"Indeed," said Father, "Bran, one day you will be one of Robbs bannermen and hold a Fort for your Lord and King and their Justice will fall to you."
I tuned out my old mans speech, having already heard it back when I first came out to this place.
"I smell blood," said Zafiras voice in my head, making me snap back to reality, just as Jon reappeared from the direction of the bridge and called at us to come see what they had found.
As expected, we crossed the river and saw Robb stood next to the dead direwolf.
"Calm down everyone, its dead," I said before anyone could react.
"How can you tell?" asked Jory, eyeing the great beast warily.
"Because Zafira is calm," I said, "If there were any threats around, we'd know about it."
"Coyote's right," said Robb.
Father had us dismount before we approached the carcass. I could feel Zafiras disgust and he kept well upwind of the body, not that I could really blame him.
"That's one big dog," said Vita.
"Its a freak," scoffed Theon.
"No, its a Direwolf," I said, "And unless I'm very much mistaken…"
I reached under the body, grimacing at the foul smell, before I wrenched out the broken antler.
"This is what killed it," I said, ignoring the shocked looks that the antler was getting.
I wasn't one to believe in signs and portents, although considering I was in a fictional world, I probably shouldn't dismiss them. I moved to stand, but before I could, a quiet whimper reached my ears and a tiny pup nosed its way out from under its mother, blinking up at me thorough shocking pink eyes. The baby Direwolf and I stared at each other for a moment, before it moved forwards and licked my fingers. I smiled and scratched it behind the ears, making it let out a whimper of pleasure, before I picked it up and stood, just in time to hear Jon come out with his line about it being fate.
"You just don't want to see such adorable little critters die," I said, "Not that I blame you."
"Why do you need one?" asked Theon, "You already have that monster."
He jerked his thumb at Zafira, who just glared at him.
"True, but symbolism is important," I said, "I am a Stark and Lilynette is the sygal of our house."
"Lilynette?" asked Robb with a raised eyebrow.
"Seems appropriate," I said with a shrug as I placed the pup on my shoulder where she gripped on surprisingly well with her paws.
"Oh very well," grumbled Father, "If Coyote's on board theres no way he won't find a way to get his way. However, you shall feed them, train them and, if they die, you will bury them with no help from others. Understand?"
"Yes Father," we three Starks said in unison as the guards started collecting the pups.
"Hmm, we seem to be missing one," I said.
"What?" asked Jon, sounding surprised.
"You may be Snow, but that doesn't mean that you're not our brother," I said, "Zafira!"
The Guardian Beast stood and leaped over the body of the Direwolf, landing lightly in the snow and gently lifting up the well hidden albino pup in his jaws, before he bounded over to Jon and placed the pup at his feet. Everyone stared at the blue wolf in surprise as he returned to my side.
"Always one for theatrics, aren't you Lord Coyote?" asked Signum, shaking her head in exasperation.
I just grinned and gave a bow. Lilynette gave a startled yelp as she nearly fell, but only ended up laying on my head.
"Bloody royal visit," I grumbled, gingerly feeling my now short hair that had been butchered from its previous shoulder length to just above my ears, "Why is mother so eager to make us pretty for the King.
Shortly after we had returned to Winterfell, Jory had approached me and informed me that we were expecting the King and everyone else, before practically dragging me to get a haircut. I was expecting it of course, but I hadn't expected the Captain of the Guard to grab me by the collar and drag me away. It didn't help that Vita had just watched in amusement, much to my annoyance.
"I think it looks good on you my Lord," said Signum as she shut the door to our little house on the abandoned world.
"Shut it," I grumbled, "Where are the others?"
"Shamal sent a message that she'd found a possible new addition to the Tome," she said, "Their off collecting it now."
"Fine, go help them and make sure you don't bring the TSAB down on our heads," I said.
"Yes Master," said Signum with a bow, before she teleported out.
I sighed and flopped down on the sofa, letting out a sigh of relief as the thickly stuffed cushions swallowed me. Like so many other things in the little house, the sofa had been obtained off world, specifically Earth after I had obtained its coordinates and headed over to take a look. As it turned out, we didn't have to worry about the Book of Darkness because I was able to find Hayate who, despite still being an orphan, was still well looked after and happy as a clam with the advantage of not being wheelchair bound. I had also found a complete set of the Song of Ice and Fire and a box set of Game of Thrones. They were currently sitting innocuously on the shelf in plain view of Daenerys when she showed up to train or let out her anger at her brother on the planet or, more often, me. I was mildly surprised she hadn't read them and then tried to brain me with them yet.
I let myself slip down into a laying position, wondering what to do. My Wolkenritter were all off chasing down a new addition to the Tome, my new Familier was sleeping of the transformation process in the houses only bedroom and I had no idea where Daenerys was to ask her for a spar or just hang out (I'd done that a couple of times. Viserys had no idea he'd had a Stark hang out in his house. That had been quite amusing). After a few moments, I flipped to my feet and grabbed a pack of playing cards from the table in front of me and began making a house of cards Because there is absolutely no comedic possibilities there.
I was just going to place the final two cards on my project when the door suddenly slammed open, making me and the cards jump.
"GODS FUCKING DAMN MY IDIOT BROTHER!" snarled Daenerys as she stormed into the room, kicking of her shoes as she entered.
"Whats he done this time?" I asked as I stared at the cards, willing them not to fall.
Daenerys huffed and flopped down on the sofa next to me.
"He's planning to sell me off to some Dothraki Horselord in exchange for an army," she growled, "Well I've had it! I'm going to activate the Golem!"
She slammed her fist onto the table and my house of cards came crumbling down. I stared at the pile of cards for a moment, feeling a slight twitch in my eye, before I huffed and leant back, turning to face my long time friend. Over the years, while I had changed to look a lot like my namesake, right down to the long hair and slight stubble before it had been whacked off, Daenerys had also changed to match her lookalike, even gaining a scar over her eye where she got slashed by an out-of-control Golem we had to fight during one of our excursions into the world of freelance bounty hunting out in the Administrated Worlds. I had been tempted to show her RWBY after that, but decided to just buy some paraphernalia and let her notice in her own time. It's probably going to earn me a punch to the head, but it was worth it to see the look on her face.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" I asked, getting back on track.
"I'm positive," said Daenerys, sitting back with a sigh, "I refuse to allow Viserys to use me as a bargaining chip, but if I just vanish, the Kahl will think he was cheated and probably kill my Brother. This way, he gets what he wants and so do I."
"But that Golem will only last a few months at most," I said, referring to the artificial clone we had created as a just in case.
It wasn't a clone like Fate was of Alicia Testarossa, but rather a construct created and held together with magic through a process not dissimilar to Alchemy. Technically, it was human insofar as its make up, but it wasn't alive. At least, not yet. Once we implanted memories and activated it, it would be in every way that mattered. However, due to the processes that created it, once it was activated, it would only last about 6 months, less if it underwent trauma, so I was a little leery of creating a new life with such a short lifespan.
Daenerys sighed and her shoulders slumped.
"I know," she said, "And I know what you're saying. But...Is it any better to just leave it in that tank for the rest of time? At least if we activate it, it'll have some kind of life, short as it is."
Ouch, that was a low blow. Still, she did have a point.
"Are you going to include the memories of what it really is?" I asked, "Or are you going to leave it with just your memories?"
"What do you think?"
She stood and made her way out the door. I followed her as she crossed the clearing to another building we'd built to serve as a lab/workshop for our projects, including a few Devices I was building using schematics and techniques from both the Tome and from books obtained from Mid-Childa and other places, as well as the Infinity Library. It was mostly just to see if I could, but I was also planning to give one to Arya and another to Bran, both of whom possessed impressive Linker Cores for their age.
The building was small, but the room within was large enough for our needs. It was well stocked with tools and equipment for the mystic arts, with numerous work benches scattered with parts, tools and half finished projects. At the head of the room was a large tank with a doll-like construct flowing within. It was human in shape, but it lacked any features or even a true gender. Daenerys approached the tank and placed a hand on it.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, before picking up a needle connected to a tube that lead up to the top of the tank.
She stuck the needle into her arm and flinched slightly as her blood and magic was sucked out and into the tank. After a few seconds, she pulled the needle out and stepped back, pressing a bit of cloth to the puncture wound to stop the small amount of bleeding. We watched as the liquid in the tank momentarily swirled with red, before it was absorbed into the golem. Its eyes snapped open as it slowly began to change, taking on a more feminine shape and its features changing to match those of Daenerys. Within a few moments, the change was complete and I was looking at a naked copy of my closest friend.
"Very nice," I said without thinking.
Daenerys blinked and looked back at me, before looking back at her copy, her face reddening.
"Aw crap."
"PERVERT!"
THWACK!
And thats the end of that. I hope you liked it and I also hope I can continue this without getting writers block.
The clone thing was solely because this version of Daenerys is more likely to freeze her brother than actually go through with his plan. Plus, I have a few gags in mind that'll be difficult to pull off if she did go through with it. Also, its temporary at best and will fall apart quickly, likely by the time Drogo snuffs it. No phoenix impressions for this Daenerys.
Yeah, I don't really think I need to spell out who I'm gonna base Coyotes familiers human form on for anyone who knows the character hes designed off.
Well, I'm done for now. This will probably take a back seat to my Knights of Heaven, but saying that, I'll probably end up focusing more on this one. No promises though. Anyway, leave a review!