Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire.

Another dragon, another wolf, another stag

Chapter 28: Arthur

"Talking"

"Thinking"

(Location: King's Landing)

He didn't like this. This was not what the Kingsguard did. They did not kidnap people, drug them into a stupor, and ride hard for the safety of King's Landing while the tourney was extended another day. But the king had ordered them to do this. How could they disobey? "You did the same thing when Rhaegar married the boy's mother beneath a heart tree," a traitorous voice whispered in his mind. "You did nothing. How many more would be alive if you had?"

Still, as he looked at the boy sleeping on the bed, he wondered if Jon Snow, or Daemon Targaryen, was truly Lyanna's child. It's not that he had never seen her babe. She had told him and his brother Kingsguard that the child was a girl and they never saw the babe properly to know if it was the truth. It had always been swaddled and in her arms when they looked in the birthing chamber to check on her. The closest he had ever seen of the babe was a flash of dark hair, marking it as a Stark.

"There might be one way to check," he told himself. He remembered being on guard duty the day after Lady Lyanna had given birth. He had heard her laugh shortly and asked her what was so amusing. She had told him that the Seven were trying to mark her child because they must've already known it belonged to the old gods. When he asked what she meant, she described a small group of freckles on the babe's shoulder that looked like the seven-pointed star.

He went over to the bed and pulled the boy's shirt loose. He checked each shoulder. He found some freckles on the left. If he squinted and tilted his head, he could see a seven-pointed star. But there were some freckles missing. They had to have faded with age. The boy moved, shaking his shoulder free. Arthur didn't fight the quiet struggle. He withdrew his hand and left the room.

Ser Gerold and Ser Oswell were waiting outside the room. "Is it truly him then?" Oswell asked him. "Is he truly Lady Lyanna's son?"

"The king has said he was," he replied.

"And we were told that she had given birth to a daughter back at that damn tower. One of them is lying and I'd like to blame someone."

"Enough, Oswell," Ser Hightower told him. "We do not question the king. If he says Jon Snow is his son, than he is his son."

"But is he? Come now, Gerold, you were told by Lady Lyanna that she had birthed a daughter. We didn't question further but we also didn't look harder. The fault lies with us for the doubt."

"Perhaps," said the White Bull.

"Do you see another way? I don't."

"I do not question my king or his family."

"Perhaps it's time that we did that," Arthur said. He spoke the words to himself but they still overheard him. He saw the dangerous look in his lord commander and was swift to say, "Not amongst the court, but amongst us seven."

Oswell gave him an incredulous look. "Are you talking about what Lannister had been trying to write out for a year now?"

"Yes." He knew that Jaime had no great skill with the quill. He only thought better of the lad for it. "I believe that he calls it the Kingslayer Protocols." He wondered if Jaime named them so as his little joke or because he thought it was an apt name.

"We will not discuss it now," Ser Gerold declared. "Where is Ser Mark?"

Arthur thought about it for a moment. Mark came with them to King's Landing. Out of the four of them, he was the one who did not enjoy what they had done the most. There was a perpetual look of sorrow the entire ride from Riverrun. "I believe he said that he was going straight to the White Sword Tower. Why?"

He strode down the corridor. "It is time the three of us were told what really happened that day. I want to know how Lord Stark stole the prince out from under our noses and set the tower alight."

Both Arthur and Oswell followed him. "Surely you don't think that Lord Stark set the tower aflame," the Sword of the Morning protested. "His sister was inside!"

"How would he do it in the first place?" Oswell demanded. "It's not like Stark is some kind of sorcerer."

"That is what I intend to find out," their lord commander said. His words were filled with authority and it made them fall silent. They could tell that he was angry at being duped. The White Bull might be old but he was by no means feeble.

Like Arthur had said, Ser Mark was in the White Sword Tower. But what they were surprised to see was the man packing what few items he had into a sack. "Going somewhere, Ryswell?" Oswell asked.

The man turned and saw all three of them standing at his cell's door. But he did not seem surprised or angered to see them. "I am," he said.

"Where to?" asked Ser Gerold. "Lord Stark?"

"No, but it is for him that I will go to the Wall and join the Night's Watch."

The news stunned Arthur. A knight of the Kingsguard would give up his white cloak for a black one voluntarily? This had never happened before. "Why?" he asked.

Mark looked grim and sad. "I failed my lord. I could not do what he had asked me."

That was a damning confession and the three of them knew it. Arthur shared a look with Oswell. The question they both had was what did they do now? "Explain yourself, ser," the White Bull commanded. "What did Eddard Stark order you to do?"

"To stay in the capital and watch the royal family, see if they made any attempt to find the child of Lyanna Stark and to stop them if they did." He looked at them all. He must've seen the question they had on their minds for he said next, "No, I did not manipulate my way into the Kingsguard. The king offered it to me genuinely."

"But you accepted it still," Arthur told him, "All to spy on the royal family."

"Not spy but watch."

Oswell gave him a foul look. "Changing the word doesn't change the intent. You're spying on the royal family, a family you swore an oath to protect and defend."

"You know me, Oswell."

"I'm beginning to feel that I don't." His look turned fouler. "I do not take kindly to oathbreakers."

"I have not broken any oaths. House Targaryen is alive and well." He looked at them all with sad eyes. "But you do not believe me."

Arthur regarded him. How could they trust a man who willingly admitted to spying on the royal family for a would-be rebel lord? They had treated him like a brother and he had lied to them all these years. No, he had lied to them longer than that. "It is time to come clean, Mark," he declared. "Tell us what happened at the Tower of Joy. How did Lord Stark smuggled away Lady Stark's son? How was it we believed that she had died?"

They blocked his way out of the cell. He had to answer them to leave and join the Night's Watch or go to the block. He looked at them all, his eyes looking for any way to get out. He found none and sighed in defeat. "Very well, I will tell you what I know."

"How nice of you to do this," Oswell remarked.

He ignored his humor and started. "You know that we had come to the tower in the day. But that was not the first time we approached. When we first saw the tower, it was at the hour of the wolf. The three of you sat around a fire, keeping watch together. Some of us thought to rush forward and attack. But Howland Reed offered a different way. He went to the tower, armed with darts and a blow pipe. His aim was true and the three of you fell into a sleep that you would not remember.

"We rode to the tower once Lord Reed returned to us. We knew that you three stood guard but we did not know if there were more inside. Lord Stark chose to enter with Lord Reed while the rest of us kept watch over you in fear that you would awaken before planned. Time slipped past us as we kept our watch.

"When Lord Stark came back out near the dawn, he bade me, Lord Dustin, and Martyn Cassel to aid him. We followed him into the tower but not to the room where his sister lay. Instead, we went downwards into the basement, where we found Lord Reed already destroying anything and everything that was wooden. We did not know why but were ordered to assist.

"We did just that. When it was done, Lord Reed poured another concoction onto the mess and we left. We back to our horses and Lord Stark told us to ride away only to turn back. When we rode again to the tower, the sun was high in the sky. The rest, you know."

They did know. They had thought that was the time Lord Stark and his party had reached the Tower of Joy. But now the truth was out. "It seems that Lord Stark would have made an excellent mummer," Arthur thought to himself.

"What of the babe?" asked Ser Gerold, "What of Lady Stark's child? We were told that it was a girl."

"By Lady Lyanna?" he asked. Arthur nodded. "I did not know what happened to the babe until the ship was about to sail away from King's Landing. I had asked Lord Stark why he had allowed the tower to burn with his sister in it. He said, "The Targaryens have already taken two of my family. They will not have another.'"

"He killed her?!" Oswell shouted, starting for him. Ser Gerold held him in place but he still tried to get free. Arthur understood his anger. During their time at the tower, Oswell and Lyanna Stark got along the easiest. She had enjoyed his dark humor instead of being offended by it.

"No, she was already dead. The tower was her funeral pyre."

"And the babe?" said Ser Gerold.

Mark turned his attention to their Lord Commander. "The only time that I thought I saw a babe was when Lord Stark told me why the tower burned. Howland Reed had come from below decks with a bundle in hand."

He fell silent and they waited for his next words. But he stayed silent. "That's it?" demanded Oswell.

"That is all I know." He looked at the three of them. "Will you let me go to the Wall or take me before the king?"

"You betrayed your oath," Arthur said.

"In a small way, yes," he agreed. "But I am proud to say that I have never caused them harm."

Ser Gerold didn't believe so. "You've kept them from a member of their own family."

His face turned to silent anger. "You mean Ned's son, the one that we kidnapped?" he challenged the White Bull.

"We rescued Prince Daemon from his kidnappers."

"Rescued implies that he wanted to leave with us. Ser Oswell came behind him and drugged him into unconsciousness. We rode out one gate while the Starks left through another."

Arthur could see the similarities between what they had done and what he and Oswell did when Rhaegar ran away with Lyanna near Harrenhal. That had caused a war. Now, it felt like they were about to follow down the same path again. "There's nothing that we can do about it now," he thought in resignation.

"Enough, we have done our duty," declared the White Bull.

"And I have failed mine. Now I must atone."

Oswell raked him with a sneer. "I hope the Wall freezes your cock off, brother," he all but spat the word out. He turned and walked out. Ser Gerold followed him soon after, giving Ser Mark one last look of disappointment.

Arthur and Mark were left alone in the cell. He looked at the Northman, feeling ashamed. He had thought that he and Mark had become close since he stayed in King's Landing and eventually became a part of the Kingsguard. He had thought that the tragedy at the Tower of Joy had given them a bond. But he was wrong. "How could you have allowed this to happen?" he asked Mark.

"I obeyed my lord, the same as you did," he replied. "Why else would you have been at that tower, in Dorne?"

They had been there because it had been Arthur who suggested it as a safe hiding place for Lyanna. "It could have been different."

Mark shook his head. "No, it wouldn't. If Ser Gerold would have let us pass, Howland Reed wouldn't have ready the tower to burn. You were told to protect her and we were possible rebels. Perhaps the way it happened is for the best. We are all alive."

As much as he wanted to deny those words, he knew that it was true. Not all of them would have left the tower alive. But now that he thought of it, he wondered who would have left. He remembered Ned Stark fighting the brawl at Harrenhal and wondered if he was as good with his sword as he was with his fists. Was what they said about his brother wrong? "There's no point wondering about it now," he told himself. "Goodbye, Mark," he said to the Northman. "We will tell the king of your decision."

"Goodbye, Arthur," Ser Mark said back. "It was an honor serving next to you."

He left the cell and found his way back down to the Round Room. He saw Varys, the Master of Whispers, waiting there. He probably should have been surprised by the sight of him, but the Spider was good at his work. No doubt his spies had already sent word to him of what had happened. "Lord Varys," he greeted the eunuch clad in purple silks, keeping his voice and face neutral.

"Ser Arthur," he said back in that womanly voice he so favored. "Good day to you. I hope it was a good journey from Riverrun?"

"It was a quick journey and we both know it. What is that you want, my lord? Have I a need to call for Ser Gerold?"

"No, no, there's no need to call for the Lord Commander. You shall suffice."

His eyes narrowed and his hand clenched. If Dawn was near his grasp, he would have been tempted to reach for it. "For what?" he asked.

"My little birds have told me such an interesting thing, ser. They tell me of how four of the Kingsguard came riding into King's Landing and the king was nowhere in sight. They tell me of how one of the Kingsguard looked dissatisfied as he rode, like he had committed an act that he had no choice in."

"I'm sure your little birds tell you much, my lord."

He bowed his head simpering. "They do indeed."

"Then allow me to be blunt, Lord Varys, and cut through all the veiled words and meanings. How long have you known that Ser Mark Ryswell was watching the royal family for Eddard Stark?"

The eunuch did not bat an eyelash or even flinch. "Since the day he was left in King's Landing," he answered without shame.

Anger burned through his blood at those words. He had known all this time and had done nothing. "Why did you not tell anyone?" he demanded.

"What was there to tell, ser? The man watched the dragons but did nothing to them. He was chosen to become one of the king's seven and still did nothing. His words sent north were only for his family, never to his liege lord. I thought that he was there to prevent a march upon the North." His eyes looked hard at Arthur, trying to find something. He did not say anything but the eunuch still found what he was looking for. "And it would appear that I was wrong."

It came to Arthur in that moment. It was so astounding he didn't know that the Sword of the Morning was tempted to laugh in his face. But instead he allowed a smile on his lips. "It seems the Master of Whispers does not hear all whispers." Even though he took pleasure from the fact, he still felt that he should know, lest he find out some other way. "Tell me, Lord Varys, what do you know of Lord Stark's bastard children?"

"If by his bastard children, you mean your niece, I do know that she is Brandon Stark's daughter, not Eddard."

He didn't ask how the man knew. He was the Master of Whisperers. "I don't speak of Jocelyn but of Jon Snow. Did you know that he was the son of Lyanna Stark?"

The eunuch's eyes widened just enough to be recognizable. It lasted only for a moment before his expression went back to normal but it was long enough that Arthur would remember it. "I did not know," Varys admitted. "It seems that Lord Stark is completely honorable and yet managed tricked us all."

"You sound impressed."

"Lord Stark kept this secret for almost fifteen years without anyone finding out. I am somewhat impressed."

He turned angry. "He stole the king's own child and hid him away, from his own family. How can you be impressed at that?"

"Please, Ser Arthur, you are not your Lord Commander. You do not need to channel him between us. My little birds have also told me that after Ser Mark, you looked the most unsettle. You thought what you and your brothers did was not right. As for what Lord Stark did, I can see why he would do it. It is most likely he was not stealing the king's son but returning his sister's son to his family. Naming him as his bastard was just another layer of protection."

It was true, he knew that. But it was something that already happened. "It makes no difference," he told the Spider. "What's happened has happened."

"Is it?" he asked back mysteriously.

Arthur frowned. He did not like these kinds of games. He never did. "Speak truthfully."

"Ser Arthur, surely you do not think that Lord Stark will not allow the kidnapping of his son to go unsettled?"

No, he didn't think so. Ned Stark had sailed south to find his sister. If the man continued to claim Jon as his son, he would ride south to get him. But the odds were against him. The Warden of the North had to know that. "Surely you do not think that with the might of the rest of Westeros against him, he would be so foolish to try?"

Varys took on a mysterious expression. "There is an old saying in the North amongst the Starks' bannermen. 'Beware the silent wolves. They watch and will strike if the pack is threatened.' If things had gone as they intended and Brandon Stark had become the Lord of Winterfell, what would have become of Eddard Stark? If you had fought at the Tower of Joy, would you have lived?" Arthur didn't know the answer to that. Varys left the tower, clearly not expecting an answer.

It was a full day before the drug had worn off and the newly discovered prince awoken. Arthur knew this because the maid who had been sent to check on him came back running with tears, claiming that he had tried to kill her. He calmed her down, promising that the prince did not mean to act as such, and promptly went to the boy's chambers. He hesitated for a moment outside the door. "Did we do the right thing?" he wondered one last time. The thought did not last long. It wasn't the time to question it.

He opened the door and walked in. Surprisingly, the room hadn't been destroyed like he had been expecting. "Good morning," he greeted the boy standing at the window, bending his knee to him.

Jon Snow (he knew that his name was Daemon but he could not think of him anything than Jon) turned from the window. His eyes showed just how confused he was. "Ser Dayne?" he said, looking at him. "Where am I?"

"Home, your Highness."

"Home?" he repeated, looking back at the window. Blackwater Bay loomed out and he would be able to smell it at the rail, not the stench of King's Landing. But he looked back and he was still confused. "This is not Winterfell."

"No, my prince, it is not. This is King's Landing."

"King's Landing? What am I doing in the capital?" There was a note of panic in his voice and he started looking around as if he was trying to find a way of escape.

"You are home, your Highness."

"I am not home! This isn't the North. I—" He stopped suddenly and looked shocked. "Did you kidnap me?"

"No, Prince Daemon. We rescued you." The words felt wrong in his mouth but he still said them.

It only took one look for him to know that Jon Snow didn't believe him. "You did kidnap me!"

"No, my prince—"

He winced at the title. "Why? Why did you do this to me?"

"Your father thought it best that you come home. He thought that if you were left to decide, you would go back to the North. That's why he asked us to take you to King's Landing." He remembered the king telling him and the other three late at night in Riverrun. He hadn't felt good about it then and he didn't feel good about it now. But Rhaegar was his king. He couldn't disobey him.

Jon looked at him with even greater shock. "The king had me stolen? Like my aunt?"

He could see the comparison but felt it was unjustified. The boy did not know what happened between his father and mother. "Your father did not steal you, your Highness. He brought you home."

"No! This is not my home." He looked at the door, judging it.

Arthur knew what he was thinking. He was seeing if he could run past him and get out into the keep. "If you would like to explore the Red Keep, I would be glad to guide you, my prince. You will have to know your way around your home."

"This isn't my home. My home is Winterfell. Please, Ser Arthur, let me go home," he begged.

He looked up at the prince. He looked as desperate as he had sounded. He also looked scared. It shamed Arthur to see such emotions staring back at him. "We should've talked to him, not drug him and spirit him away." He did not say such things aloud. He kept his expression calm and neutral as he said, "You are home, Prince Daemon. You are in King's Landing, where a member of the royal family belongs. Your father and family will return in the coming days. You will be able to reunite with them soon."

The scared boy tried to hide his emotions and replace them with a wall of ice. "Very well, if I am to be treated as a prisoner, I will abide by my captor's wish to keep me here," he declared, going back to the bed and sitting on it.

The Kingsguard did not expect to hear those words. "Prisoner?" he repeated. "You are not a prisoner, your Highness."

"Of course I am," Jon said back. "However King Rhaegar wants to pretend it is, the truth remains the same. I am a prisoner to keep Lord Stark from waging war against the royal family. So I shall be a prisoner."

"You are not a prisoner, my prince," Arthur told him sternly, coming off his bended knee.

"I am. I have been taken against my will and held hostage here in the Red Keep."

"No, that's not it."

He looked at him hard. "Then let me leave and go home."

The Sword of the Morning could not look him in the eyes. "You are home, Prince Daemon."

"No, I'm not. And that is not my name."

"Your Highness—"

He turned his head away. "My name is Jon Snow. My father is Lord Eddard Stark. I don't know who my mother is."

Arthur could not believe that those words were said. "That's not true. You know who your mother is, my prince. She is Lyanna Stark."

"My name is Jon Snow. My father is Lord Eddard Stark. I don't know who my mother is."

"She is Lyanna Stark, your Highness. Lord Stark is not your father. He's your uncle."

But he would not accept it. He only said again, "My name is Jon Snow. My father is Lord Eddard Stark. I don't know who my mother is."

Anger began to burn through Arthur as he heard those words a third time. How dare the boy dismiss his own mother like she was nothing? After all she had done to bring him into this world, he would deny the simple fact? An urge to throttle him until he saw and admitted the truth made his hands itch. But he stopped himself before he could even stretch them out towards the boy.

What was he thinking? He was a knight of the Kingsguard. They did not harm the royal family. They protected them from those who would harm them. And while Jon Snow might deny it, the truth was that he was Prince Daemon Targaryen, now and forever. "Your family will be here soon, Prince Daemon," he finally said. "Your father will be able to explain things to you better than me."

There was no reply from the boy. He was more content to look out the window at the bay. Arthur took that silence to mean he was dismissed. He left the room, closing the door behind him. Then, he took his post beside the door. He did his duty as a Kingsguard.

In the days that followed, he and the other two Kingsguard in the capital had hoped that he would eventually come out and try to know what the Red Keep looked like. But the door stayed shut and would not open, save for food. A seamstress had been sent to him the day before so he could have new clothes, only for her to leave not ten minutes afterwards in frustrated anger.

Arthur, Oswell, and Ser Gerold had each taken their turn to try and coax the boy out of the room. But the offers of clothes, better food, exploring the castle, and even training would not have the door open. The only response they got from him was whenever they called him by his true name and it was the same thing every time. "My name is Jon Snow. My father is Lord Eddard Stark. I don't know who my mother is."

When the royal family rode into the Red Keep, they were there to greet them but without the prince. "Good day to you, my king," Ser Gerold greeted King Rhaegar as he dismounted. Queen Elia and her children followed suit, same as Princess Daenerys. The only one missing from Riverrun was Prince Viserys, as expected.

"Good day, Ser Gerold," the king said back. "How has the castle been since we left?"

"It is well, your Grace, but it is also glad to have the royal family back. Was the ride back from Riverrun eventful?"

He shook his head. "It was not, thank the Seven."

Oswell looked at the rest of the people coming through the gate. There were quite a lot of them, more so than just the royal procession. "Are there other noble lords who have joined you from Riverrun, your Grace?" he asked.

"Some, but only those who still have farther to ride," Rhaegar answered. "I've offered them the hospitality of the Red Keep until they're ready to ride on."

"That might be longer than any of us would want," Arthur thought to himself. He saw the Tyrell banner amongst the people coming in. Lady Margaery probably wouldn't leave until she had married Prince Aegon.

Elia walked up beside her husband. "Sers, where is Prince Daemon?" she asked them, looking around subtly. "We would have thought that he would be here to greet his family."

It was a good thing that the three of them had formulated a reason he wasn't there beforehand. "The prince felt tired, my queen," Ser Hightower answered. "He found his bed and could not be stirred from it."

"I still think we should've used the bucket of water on him," Oswell muttered loudly.

He fixed the man with a look even as Prince Aegon and his sister sniggered. "He is a prince of the blood, Ser Oswell. We do not harm them."

"How is water going to harm him?"

"It will be fine, Ser Whent," Rhaegar told him. "We are all tired. Tonight we shall rest and speak with Prince Daemon on the morrow."

He went into Maegor's Holdfast. Arthur fell in behind him as normal. He followed in silence, even if he knew alongside Oswell and Ser Gerold that the next morning would not make things easier. If anything, it was going to be just as difficult.

End

Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.

Yeah, there was a reason Mark Ryswell stayed in King's Landing. He didn't stay because he was bored of Ned Stark's company. Here's hoping this surprised you guys.

I know that I'm making Ned Stark out to be something that we all know he really isn't. But that's the point. For most of the characters in this story, they've either A: never met him, or B: barely met him. That, plus all of the rumors floating around about him, will make people think he's dangerous if provoked.

It is a little fun to catch Varys off-guard. But it's not how the man is caught off-guard but how he reacts and recovers from that kind of thing that shows just how good he is at his job. The way I see things, a good spymaster would publically accept the fact that he got hoodwinked and then make sure it's the absolute truth.

That's line Jon's repeating? That's pretty much going to set the tone for his being in King's Landing. This should be interesting.

I'll see you all next chapter!