The Riverlands 298 AC.
Jon Snow.
He sparred with Ser Arthur and listened as the man gave him pointers and corrected some of his movements. The knight changing his stance from front on to side on and telling him to use his speed far more than his strength. It was something he'd always relied on to be true but he'd been trying to incorporate more power into his swings. Something that Arthur told him was unneeded, especially given the sword he wielded.
Blackfyre was lighter than normal steel, it was a bastard sword that he surprisingly adapted to almost immediately. When Arthur showed him how true the edge on the blade worked compared to the edge on a normal steel sword, he finally understood. Normal steel required far more power in its blows to cause the same damage that Valyrian Steel did. Arthur telling him that he himself had far more trouble making the leap from using a normal sword to Dawn than Jon was having with Blackfyre.
The knight wasn't one for simply throwing out compliments either Jon had found. He'd half expected that because he named him his king and he was the son of a man who was as close a brother to him, that he'd compliment him constantly. It's what those who followed after royalty did after all as Jon had learned from seeing the crown prince and king at Winterfell. Apparently, though it was not and it was certainly not Ser Arthur's way. Every compliment Jon got was earned and every rebuke listened to.
"That's it, use the spins more to get away, Rhaegar, in time you can use them to attack." Arthur said as Jon spun away from the blade.
"Why not use them to attack?" he asked as he took up his stance once more.
"Try it." Arthur said and Jon did as he was bid.
The fall winded him and was the end of their morning's spar, Arthur reaching down to help him back to his feet. As soon as he had spun in and brought his sword in an arc to attack he'd been tripped and Blackfyre was on the ground a few feet away from him. Arthur explaining to him how he needed to learn to gain his footing faster when he landed and that doing so as he backed away, kept what he'd just done to him from happening. Jon listened eagerly as always, each day he trained with the man he felt himself get better and he'd been able to beat all but two of those who were with the Brotherhood. Lord Beric even falling to his blade, only Thoros and Ser Richard and Arthur of course were now better than him. Jon felt he was closing in fast on those two also though as only a few days earlier Beric had been better too.
"You feel up to another, your grace?" he heard Ser Richard ask and saw Arthur shake his head, Jon deciding the knight knew better than he.
"Not for now, Ser Richard but perhaps we could speak?" he said and saw Arthur's approving nod.
"I'd very much like that your grace. Richard said before moving closer to him.
Arthur had told him that his father's former squire wished to speak to him and that he had something from his father for him. As much as he'd wanted to do so immediately, to talk to a man who knew his father as well as Ser Arthur almost and to find out what it was he had, Jon was nervous too. Some of the men who'd served in his uncle's guard and had traveled with him to King's Landing were uncomfortable at how quickly Jon had accepted he wasn't Ned Starks son. Hearing him and Arthur speak of his father or him being called Rhaegar garnering him some strange looks. Jon almost feeling as if they were judging him for abandoning the man who'd raised him.
That Arthur pulled no punches when he spoke of his uncle and that Jon never once defended him, only added to their discomfort he imagined. On that point, though Arthur was right and Howland had also explained what his uncle had done. How he'd denied him the knowledge of who he truly was, had kept him from knowing his mother lay not more than a few feet from him, and had allowed and even encouraged him to almost throw his life away at the Wall. To Jon, these were far worse than what he knew Arthur hated Ned Stark for. While he too wasn't happy he had been denied his birthright, it was more the other more personal things that made him think of his uncle how he did now.
"I'll leave you two alone." Arthur said as he walked away, by alone he off course meant a few feet and not out of sight Jon had come to realize, he was a Kingsguard after all.
"You squired for my father, Ser Richard." he said a way to start the conversation rather than a question.
"Me and Myles Mooton, your father gave us both our spurs, and being almost of an age we stayed as friends." Richard said.
"What was he like?" he asked, even though Howland, his father's letters, and Ser Arthur had all given him a good enough description, Jon found himself keen for more.
"He was quiet and oft prone to melancholy, your grace. He rarely smiled but when he did it was a wondrous sight. You may have heard him described as being sad, I know some of the Maesters who dared write of him with the Stag on the throne named him such but he was far from it. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't a man prone to laughter, but he was happy at times too." Richard said looking off into the distance as if he was looking at the memory itself.
"My mother?" he asked.
"Made him happy, your grace. Truly happy. I wasn't as close to your father then, I mean I was but there was only one man he truly shared his thoughts with." Richard said looking to Ser Arthur.
"You were at Harrenhal?" he asked and Richard nodded.
"The Knight of the Laughing Tree." Richard said with a chuckle "Your mother led us on a merry chase your grace, I, other knights, The Stag." Richard said bitterly.
"You and Robert were friends were you not?" he said with no accusation meant, just repeating something that Howland had said.
"To my everlasting shame. Though we were more drinking partners than friends, I enjoyed an ale and the Stag did too, we were young and foolish your grace, young and foolish. At Harrenhal I was drinking with Robert when Aerys ordered the Knight of the Laughing Tree brought to him, like most young and foolish men, I saw glory and acclaim and sought to find her, Robert by my side. Thank R'hllor I did not." Richard said looking down to the ground.
"When did you know it was my mother?"
"When your father crowned her, your grace. Your father wasn't a rash man, his actions to others may have seemed so but your father never made a move he didn't consider more than once. For him to crown your mother instead of Elia, aye, love played its part no doubt, but he was also rewarding her for standing for honor in the joust. I saw it then and knew it to be true." Richard said with a smile.
"Did they..were they…do you think they were happy?" he asked shakily.
"I never saw your mother after Harrenhal your grace so I cannot say for sure though I believe she was. As for your father, there were only three times in my life that I saw him show true happiness. When your sister was born, when your brother was and the day he crowned your mother. They were happy your grace, I'd stake my life on it." Richard said his voice leaving no room for doubt.
"Thank you Ser, For the talk, for being beside him on the Trident." he said standing up and reaching out to place a hand on Richard's shoulder.
"Your grace. Before the Trident, your father, he wrote this. It's the last song he ever put to paper, perhaps the last words even." Richard said reaching into his shirt to take out a piece of old parchment "I was called to his tent the night before we rode and he handed it to me, asked me to deliver it to Ser Arthur when next I saw him, that Arthur would know what to do with it. I believe and Ser Arthur does too that it was meant for you."
Jon took the piece of parchment and walked a few feet down to the stream. Sitting down on a rock as he carefully opened it. He'd been given letters his father had written and found himself mentioned in some of them, albeit only in generalities. His mother was too but again nothing that truly gave an insight into how his father truly thought of her. Jon wondered if this would as he looked down on the parchment.
There's no time for us
There's no place for us
What is the thing
That builds our dreams
Yet slips away from us?
Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever?
There's no chance for us
It's all decided for us
This world has only
One sweet moment
Set aside for us
Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever?
Who dares to love forever
When love must die?
But touch my tears
With your lips
Touch my world
With your fingertips
And we can have forever
And we can love forever
Forever is our today
How long he sat there he couldn't tell, nor how many tears fell from his eyes. That he was left alone to let them all fall was something he was very grateful for. Standing up he folded the parchment and placed it inside his shirt and walked back to the camp, Ser Arthur joining him as he did so. They broke their fast and readied to mount up and as he did so he closed his eyes and reached out to Ghost and Nymeria. The two wolves had found them and they were less than three days away. Jon nodding determinedly to himself when he opened his eyes and mounted up. He could do nothing about the past other than remember it and learn lessons from it. The future though was unwritten and while his father and mother's had been stolen from them, his had not.
The West 298 AC.
Robb.
The march through the West had been quick and mainly undisturbed, Robb taking a large force and heading to the Golden Tooth. His mind split all the while with the plans he needed to make, for taking the keep to gain access to the West, the men he'd sent North and the words his brother had spoken to him when last they'd talked. Jon's words being the ones he'd most focussed on much to his dismay. Not that he shouldn't give them weight but because he was no nearer to a plan to take the Golden Tooth because of them.
He'd sent, Dacey, the Smalljon, and Donnel Locke and had placed them under the command of Ser Wendel Manderly. The knight at first refusing until Robb had personally told him how important his mission was. Were it not for Jon's words and the strength of the conviction behind them, he'd not have sent any of them but once he decided that his brother was right, he needed to make the right choices. Both men and women in Dacey's case who were capable of protecting the North and politically in Ser Wendel's case, ones he could ill afford to lose in the south.
Would that he could send Harrion Karstark or Ser Wylis or that Eddard and Torrhen lived still, then he'd have sent them rather than others. But he could only do what he could do and he hoped it was enough or that Jon was wrong, something he feared he already knew he was not. The small force and the ravens he sent would ready the North, his job was to now ready the rest of its men and take the West.
As their camp was set up a few miles from the Golden Tooth, Robb sat in his tent and poured over the maps and the drawings. The Blackfish and his outriders had ridden to the Golden Tooth and made some of the keep and its surrounding roads. Robb almost crying out in frustration as he looked at them and found no way past or around and began to think of the losses he'd suffer in taking the keep itself. He ate, drank sparingly, and went to his bed, closing his eyes and soon falling asleep. The dreams came to him as soon as he did so and Robb welcomed being in his wolf's skin once more.
The smell of goat had attracted him and he'd come to hunt, eating the first two and moving on, the trail open and wide as he moved through the mountain. It was thirst that drove him now and not hunger and he could almost smell the freshwater ahead of him, Grey Wind running the last few feet down the hill when he saw the stream. As he quenched his thirst he looked over his head to see the large stone cave that the two foots made their lair and it made him think of his brothers and his sister.
The wise brother and the wild brother were far away but his fierce sister and quiet brother were together and he could feel their anger and eagerness as they drew ever close to the fierce sister's two-foot. Grey Wind feeling the loss of his soft sister as much as he welcomed knowing that the rest of the pack lived still. He drank his fill and turned to walk the path back to his two-foot, eager to be close to him once more.
"Your grace, your grace." Robb heard the voice call out as his eyes opened and he looked to see Olyvar standing there looking down at him.
"What is it, has something happened?" he said jumping up and reaching for his sword.
"No your grace, you were making strange sounds, I was worried." Olyvar said and Robb nodded as he sat up.
"Bad dreams, Olyvar, just bad dreams." he said though they were anything but.
He quickly grabbed some water and drank it down before stepping from the tent to see that it was still dark, Robb then hurrying to his uncle's tent. That the Blackfish wasn't asleep was no surprise nor was his quick acceptance of his request, his uncle mounting up with a half dozen of his men and riding off while the night's cover still allowed for it. The wait until he returned was an agonizing one and Grey Wind arrived back before he did. The wolf leaning into him as he sat by the fire alone.
"Aye, I miss them too. He'll bring them back boy, Jon doesn't know how to fail." he said rubbing the wolf's head.
To others, that may seem like wishful thinking and he knew that while his mother was hopeful that Jon would succeed, she didn't truly believe he would. Robb felt differently, Jon had always been determined but he'd never seen him how he had been when he'd arrived at Riverrun. There was something different about him, he was more confident, more assured, and even more determined and nothing or no one other than the Stranger himself would stop him.
"Riders your grace." Olyvar said and he stood up to see the Blackfish and his men riding back in, the sun just beginning to rise over the hills behind them.
Robb hurried to speak to his uncle and found that he was indeed right, Grey Wind had found a path through the mountains and so arrangements were made to use it once night fell. When night fell they managed to bring the entire army through without incident. Robb noticing the appreciative looks he got from his commanders while he shared his own with Grey Wind. He sent the wolf on ahead of them along with The Blackfish's outriders. The men and the wolf soon bringing him back the news he had hoped for.
"How many?" he asked as they camped just east of Oxcross.
"Twice our number at least your grace." one of the men said.
"Ten thousand infantry, three thousand horse. Green boys and greybeards, your grace." Ser Brynden said his uncle cutting right to the heart of the matter.
"Banners?" he asked.
"Crakehall, Jast, Lannister, Brax, and Vikary." his uncle said.
"We attack at nightfall." he said sending his commanders to ready the men and asking his uncle to stay and speak with him a bit.
He took a seat and bid the Blackfish do likewise, pouring his uncle an ale himself and readying to speak to him of Jon and what his brother was doing.
"King's Landing, uncle, the Red Keep, you've been?" he asked.
"A few times your grace, when Lord Arryn was Hand."
"How secure it is? Not from an attack mind, but could one man get in and out, two?" he asked.
"Perhaps, but to what end?" his uncle asked.
"My brother, he's gone to rescue my sisters." he said raising his hand to stop Brynden from speaking "I know you've only heard of him from my mother and what you may think of him based on his birth, but he's my brother, my true brother." he said almost wistfully as he thought of Theon and that he may be betraying him as they spoke.
"I know not your brother, your grace. No more than what Cat has told me, Aye, and were he not the shame of my niece, I'd not care about his birth. One man who knew the Red Keep could perhaps get in, he could perhaps even make it close enough to see your sisters. To make it out, to get them out, that's a fool's errand and there's only one outcome I can see." his uncle said shaking his head.
"You don't know Jon, uncle, he's no fool and at least he's trying to do what I should have done myself." he said regretting he was not with Jon or he with him.
That night he sat on his horse looking down at the camp in the valley below. There were no sentries, no guards and as he pulled his sword he gave the order, the horse, Grey Wind, and he all ready to do their part. As he rode he felt a shiver run down his spine, an image forming in his head of Jon on a horse with Ghost and Nymeria beside him as they rode down a hill as well.
King's Landing 298 AC.
Tyrion.
He'd arrived thankfully with his father's authority and to serve in his stead as Hand, had he not then he would probably have already been killed by now. As it was he wasn't even certain the pin actually offered him any true protection which was why he was relieved to have the hill tribes and Bronn by his side. The sellsword in particular being a far better deterrent to those that wished him harm than even his father's words or pin were.
His nephew was both cruel and a fool, his sister's son in every respect, and as for Cersei, she was as she had always been, spoiled, vindictive, and far less clever than she thought she was. So from the moment he'd gotten here, he'd been slowly taking away their power while increasing his own. He'd sent Slynt to the Wall and was now about to deal with another odious little toad. He almost skipped so happy was he to find out it was Pycelle. Varys was far too useful and Littlefinger while annoying at least brought something to the table. Pycelle though was too much his father's man which made him his sister's and that was something he couldn't let stand.
"You're sure about this my lord?" Bronn asked as they walked, Tyrion greatly appreciating the way the man asked a question. There was no doubt in his words, more a simple is this the right move in the game, a game that Bronn was far more adept at playing than a sellsword usually was.
"Very sure." he said as his guards opened the door.
Seeing the Grandmaester in his rooms with a whore was no great surprise. Tyron quickly having him dragged from his bed and sending the whore on her way with some silver to buy her silence. He sat in the chair and waited for Pycelle to try and claim his innocence, the man not letting him down as he blamed others for his actions. It hadn't even required a particularly clever plan on his part, a simple bait and switch and it was done.
"Varys, it was Varys." Pycelle said and Tyrion nodded before telling him how it could only have been him.
"I told Varys I was sending the princess to the Greyjoys, you were the only one I told I was sending her to Dorne." he said seeing the panic in the man's eyes.
As they walked from the room a few moments later he whistled, another obstacle taken away, and should he work it right then the man the Citadel sent would owe his position to him. Perhaps taking Pycelle's beard was a bit much but then again he'd at least left the old fool his cock, he thought with a chuckle that Bronn noticed.
"Something funny?" Bronn asked.
"I've found there is always something funny, something to laugh at it, usually it's me." he said chuckling some more.
"If things keep going as they are then none of us will be laughing for much longer." Bronn said ruining his mood.
That he spoke the truth was the main reason for that, Stannis and Renly Baratheon were soon to meet and he could only hope the brother's animosity kept them from joining forces, that and perhaps the Roses' ambitions. If Varys's little birds were to be believed and he had no doubt they were then Robb Stark had marched into the West, something his father would not take lightly. Pulling at the lion's tail was one thing, sticking your head in his mouth and not expecting to get bit was quite another. Though it seemed the Young Wolf had his father's measure for the now, as well as holding his father's son hostage.
Tyrion constantly found himself more worried about Jaime than even his own safety. He had Bronn and his men, Jaime had nothing and if his nephew wasn't stopped then he'd suffer because of it. Joffrey not understanding that if word got back to the Starks of how he treated Sansa, there was a damned good chance that Jaime would suffer too. On that at least he had Cersei's ear, the thoughts of her golden twin suffering, not ones she could countenance.
As for Sansa Stark, would that she was a boy he thought, only to chuckle at the image of her as anything but the lady she was. The simple truth was that were she one of the boys then perhaps a trade could be made for Jaime. Her being a daughter rather than a son just didn't allow for that and Robb Stark's terms could never be met. He could only hope that the plan he had set into motion would work. The men and Ser Cleos should surely have arrived in Riverrun by now and with any luck, Jaime would be coming home soon enough.
"Will I be needed for the rest of the day?" Bronn asked when they reached the Tower of the Hand.
"Of course you'll be needed, you think my sister and her idiot of a son aren't going to react once they hear of Pycelle?" he asked incredulously.
"So you want me to guard your damn door?" Bronn said annoyed.
"I'll ask you to guard my damn privy if need be, what's so pressing that you wish to leave anyway?" he asked as they walked into his rooms.
"New girl at Chataya's, blond hair and green eyes, it seems people do truly wish to fuck your sister." Bronn replied with a smirk.
"They should walk up to Cersei herself and offer her something she wants, you tell her you'll see me dead and she'll lift her skirts before you've finished speaking." he said bitterly as he took his seat.
"I thought she and your brother?" Bronn said smirking still.
"My sister were her name Ami and she a Frey would also be called Gatehouse, only that she's Tywin Lannister's daughter is she not." Tyrion said as Bronn laughed.
He tried to go over his papers and found his mind straying, thoughts of Jaime and the war filling them and making him worry. After trying to add some sums and finding he could not, much to his annoyance, Tyrion rose from his seat and bid Bronn join him. The two of them leaving the Tower of the Hand and walking through the courtyard and into the Red Keep. That his sister or Joffrey hadn't come to speak to him and berate him over Pycelle was playing on his mind and so when he walked into the Throne Room he wasn't surprised by the sight, appalled by it but nor surprised.
Sansa Stark knelt on the floor with her dress ripped open and exposing her small and still growing breasts. Joffrey stood on the dais with his crossbow in his hand and Ser Meryn Trant stood over Sansa with his sword raised. Tyrion hearing his nephew's shrill like voice as he called for the girl to be beaten more than she already clearly already had been.
"If we want Robb Stark to hear us we'll have to speak Louder." Joffrey shrieked.
"What is the meaning of this?" he said just as loudly as he walked towards them "What kind of knight beats a helpless girl." he sneered at Trant.
"The kind who serves his king, Imp." Meryn sneered back only to be warned off by Bronn which made Tyrion smirk.
He ordered someone to cover her up and didn't see the Hound step forward and tear off his white cloak to do so. Tyrion's eyes instead on the sadistic fool who was now acting like he always did, a spoiled petulant child who had just had his toy taken from him. Trying to reason with him was stupid and the words he said needed to be tempered, spoilt, petulant, sadistic, and fool or no, he was still the king and if he actually grew some balls then Tyrion could very well lose his own. Joffrey required a certain degree of deference, his equally foolhardy and sadistic Kingsguard did not and so when Ser Meryn tried to act brave, Tyrion showed him to be a coward.
"No one threatens his grace in the presence of the Kingsguard." Ser Meryn said moving forward with his hand on his sword's hilt.
"I'm not threatening the king, Ser, I'm educating my nephew. Bronn the next time Ser Meryn speaks kill him. That was a threat, see the difference." he said as he walked over to the girl who'd not moved from the floor since he'd entered.
He did so softly as if he was moving towards a wounded animal, a wolf who'd not yet shown her fangs. Holding his hand out he was relieved when she accepted it and he turned to lead her from the room. The girl actually looked regal as she walked, were it anyone but his nephew he'd have seen that, and perhaps they could actually work a peace out between his house and the Starks. Perhaps not he thought as she walked away from him a moment later after lying about her intent.
Later that night as he lay in his bed he thought some more of Bronn's idea about Joffrey and the merits of it. It had after all always helped him relax and think straight he thought as Shae walked into the room. Yet as she stripped off and climbed into the bed and moved up to him, as she reached down to take his cock in her hand and fed her breast to his mouth, it wasn't her or Joffrey he thought of. Red hair and blue eyes and the small nipples on pale breasts instead being the image that filled his mind and the image that he spent to.
Qarth 298 AC.
Daenerys.
Xaro Xhaon Daxos's manse made Illyrio's look like one of the dwellings in Vaes Dothrak. It was far bigger than any she had ever stayed in and more luxurious too. The man's wealth and extravagance were on display everywhere she looked. That he had countless slaves and the finest foods and wines was only to be expected as was his interest in her. Though that was one she wasn't sure was a true one or at least not as true as he claimed it to be. Dany had known what man's desire looked like and Xaro showed far more of that when he looked at one of her bloodriders than he did looking at her.
Still, she welcomed his hospitality and his warnings when they went to meet with the Spice King. The man proving to be just as Xaro had warned her he would be. When he warned her about the warlocks he gained some measure of her trust. Her shadow lover had also warned her not to trust them and to hear it again from Xaro's lips she knew it to be true. She met with them all the same and Pyat Pree's looks he threw her way matched the looks and desire that she had seen in Xaro's eyes. Dany now seeing it wasn't her body they lusted after but her dragons and that Xaro was just as untrustworthy as the warlocks. She rejected Pyat's offer of a visit to the House of the Undying and upon seeing his anger when she did so, she knew that she was making the right choice.
The realization about Xaro made her question who she could trust. Something that consumed her thoughts for the rest of the day and had left her distracted as she walked through the market. Irri and Jhiqui walked with her and laughed at the mummeries happening around them while Set Jorah, Jhogo, and Kovarro acted as her guards. She turned to see what Irri was laughing at and saw a man climb a ladder of flames and then she heard a soft voice speak from behind her. Turning around to see a strange woman looking at her through a red wooden mask.
"The magic is no illusion, Daenerys Stormborn, the mage's gifts as are the warlocks, only growing stronger now the Mother of Dragons is nearby." the woman said as she touched her hand, Dany feeling a tingle run up her arm as Jhogo stepped forward and the woman took her hand away.
"Who are you? "she asked.
"A friend and one who knows of the Black Dragon, the true Black Dragon and not the mummer's one." the woman said.
"Mummer's dragon?" she asked.
"Trust the Whitebeard and the White Wolf, the Black Dragon, and the Fallen Star. The Dragons know Daenerys Stormborn, do you?" the woman said looking into her eyes.
Dany felt as if they were looking deep inside of her, searching for answers to questions that she'd never asked and she wondered if she found what she was looking for. It seemed after some time she did because with a nod the woman moved away and only stopped when Dany called out to her.
"In the shadows, he comes, in your dreams, you'll see. Listen to the heart that beats in your chest and to the words he speaks. He is like you, alone and without family, without the blood of the dragon to warm his cold heart. To go West you must travel East, to see the light you must touch the shadow, to know the truth you must understand the lie, and to know love you must reject hate."
"Who are you?" she called after the woman when she moved a way, a small voice at the back of her head saying that in time she'd return.
The confusion over the meeting, the woman herself, and the words she spoke stayed with her all the way back to the Manse and when she reached it she felt the need to rest and sit with her children. Only to find that when she got there that her children were nowhere to be seen. Xaro claimed innocence and none of his slaves or her people were missing or dead, the guards she'd left at her room were men that Ser Jorah and Kovarro vouched for completely. She was about to send them all to look for her children when the note arrived, Dany almost ripping it open to see what was written on the paper.
"Khaleesi? "Jorah asked when he saw her angered look.
"The Warlocks have my children." she said as she rose to her feet "This House of the Undying where is it?" she asked.
"You don't wish to go there, Khaleesi." Xaro said.
"Where is it?" she demanded.
Jorah, Jhogo, and Kovarro escorted her to the grove where the dark and almost crumbling building stood, Dany unsurprised to see Pyat Pree already standing there waiting for her.
"Give me back my children." she said angrily as she moved towards the warlock.
"Your children await you inside Mother of Dragons." the warlock said with a sneering smile, his thin-crusted lips and toothless grin making her think of dead worms on a body for some reason.
She, Jorah, and the others move to the door only to find it to be unyielding. Pyat laughing now as he looked at them and she noticed a dwarf moving behind him carrying a glass on a tray.
"Only you may enter, Daenerys Stormborn and to do so you must drink." Pyat said.
"Khaleesi." Ser Jorah said worriedly.
"Or perhaps your children, don't need their mother at all?" Pyat said and she moved quickly to the dwarf and took the glass, the smell pungent and almost making her want to retch. She drank it down though and found the taste not to be as vile as she'd feared.
"Once inside take only the first door on the right and follow the stairs up, don't enter any of the rooms lest you become lost, Daenerys Stormborn, lost even to me. After you speak to the Undying and they return your children to you, follow the route you took to find your way back out."
She said nothing to the warlock and just did as he bid, walking through the door and following the directions she was given. When she got past the third door though she found herself in a room with six passages and took the one to the right, finding only open doors leading to rooms on her left, her eyes drawn to what was inside of them.
A man played a harp while a woman held a babe in her hands, the man looking to the dark-haired woman and babe and smiling and yet he seemed sad too.
"His name is Aegon but he's not him." the man said as he looked to her, Dany seeing his silver hair and deep purple eyes before he smiled at her "The prince's time is not yet here."
A little girl with silver hair ran through a garden with a lemon tree and a red door. The girl laughed and hid behind the tree while a dark-haired man moved slowly towards her as if he couldn't see her peeping out from behind it.
"Nyke ūndegon ao zaldrītsos." ( I see you little dragon) the man said as he lifted the girl who now laughed even more loudly as he began peppering her face with kisses.
"Daor kepa, muña mazverdagon zirȳla keligon." (No father, mother make him stop) the girl said as a silver-haired woman moved toward them both.
Two towers burned as men fell beneath their walls, the flames growing brighter and then covering some of those on the ground.
A lion ran roared triumphantly as wolves backed away from it before a black dragon flew overhead.
She saw snakes, wolves, lions, all tied up in vines as a small bird chirped happily in a tree.
As she reached the end of the passageway she found herself in another room, the lights from the torches on the walls soon going out and she heard Pyat Pree call out. Seeing him then holding a torch alight in his hand as he beckoned her forward. She heard a voice with a northern burr, and turned to see a shadow in the darkness, a shape moving towards her, and yet she felt no fear as she welcomed the hand that reached out to take her own.
"Don't be afraid, I'm with you, always." he said to her as he led her up some stairs and away from Pyat.
He led her past an open Ebony door and then a Weirwood one, Dany seeing the men inside were dressed elaborately, and yet she knew they were not who she came to see. When she felt his hand go from her own she briefly panicked but then she felt him behind her, his breath on her neck, and then his lips softly kissed her ear.
"I can only show you the way, I can't follow." he said softly as Dany saw the old grey door.
"Don't leave me." she said turning her head and seeing his face just briefly.
"I'll never leave you, but for now you must travel alone. I'll see you soon Daenerys Stormborn." he said and then he was gone.
She opened the door and stepped into the room behind it, Dany seeing the long table and the dead men and women that sat it. Above it was a large beating heart, swollen and blue and pulsing as she looked at it, and then she heard the voices speak aloud and one other in her head.
"Three fires must you light... one for life and one for death and one to love... three mounts must you ride... one to bed and one to dread and one to love... three treasons will you know... once for blood and once for gold and once for love..."
"Liars only know how to lie, the dragons know the truth, do you?" his voice said, Dany smiling upon hearing it once more before images flashed in front of her eyes.
A blue-eyed shadow of a man held a fiery sword while another more recognizable one held one that shined brightly.
A blue flower grew in a wall of ice and its scent filled the air with sweetness.
A one-eyed old man beckoned her forward.
A Kraken rose from the sea and moved towards the land.
A boy and girl sat in the grass while small dragons crawled over their shoulders.
A silver-haired man fell into a river, rubies spilling from his chest as he called out a woman's name.
A cloth dragon swayed on a pole amidst a cheering crowd.
A three-eyed raven cawed and feasted on a dragon's body.
A man and a woman lay in bed and moaned each other's names.
The sky was filled with dragons as a dark-haired man looked up, a smile on his face and a sword with a ruby on its pommel on his hip, a young girl and boy in each of his arms laughing as the dragons sang a beautiful song.
She heard the roar and felt a rush of energy run through her, opening her eyes to see Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal all tearing into the rotting heart in front of them, their flames soon enveloping the room. Then there was darkness and her shadow lover was beside her once more, his lips on hers and his kiss reaching down deep into her very core.
"Khaleesi, Khaleesi." she heard Jorah's worried voice and she opened her eyes to see the House of the Undying aflame.
"What happened?" she asked.
"They happened, Khalessi." she heard Jorah say and she looked to see her children in the air, the three dragons flying over the burning building, and yet something felt wrong, something that she took a few moments to see, and when she did she gasped loudly.
"Are they bigger?" she asked sitting up.
"Much bigger, Khaleesi." Jorah said as she heard her children roar.
The Riverlands 298 AC.
Arthur.
The more time he spent with him the more of his father he saw in him. Both of them prone to long silences and thoughtful expressions and to at times seeming lost in their own world. Yet he'd found that unlike Rhaegar's which were brought about by his melancholy, Jon's was very much not. His long silences were usually him thinking over a problem, making plans, or considering what someone had said and what it meant. It had struck him after Jon had spoken with Richard, the boy listening to the tales that Richard had told him about his father and mother, and then for the rest of the night being very quiet.
Arthur had thought him sad and had confronted Richard over it, finding out what they had talked about and the song that Richard had given him. Later he'd talked to Jon himself and while it was true the song had provoked some tears and much sadness, it was a different kind of sadness than Rhaegar would feel. It also was something Jon had used to fuel himself, he'd taken that sadness and directed in a way that Rhaegar never, or rarely did. Arthur listening eagerly to him as he explained what he was feeling, again something that his father would take much longer to share.
"My mother and father loved each other, true they could have perhaps handled that better than they did but no one could have imagined what it would lead to, and given my grandfather perhaps that itself was somewhat inevitable." Jon said as they sat together by the fire.
"Your father wished to dispose Aerys, to call a grand council." Arthur said.
"Rather than become cursed." Jon said softly.
"Cursed?" he asked.
"Cursed is the kinslayer." Jon said and Arthur nodded before he spoke some more "What did my father think, Ser Arthur, when news came and he realized that the world he'd left behind had gone to shit, what thoughts plagued his mind?"
"That he needed to fix it, your grace." Arthur said.
"It seems we have more in common than I thought then. This world has gone to shit once more, Arthur, and I need to fix it." Jon said.
"Do you have a plan to do so?" he asked.
"Not yet, but I will. For now, I have only two plans, the first is to rescue my sisters." Jon said.
"The second?" he asked.
"I'll tell you when I'm more certain of it."
That had been two days ago and they'd rode hard to catch up with the group carrying his sister and led by the man who murdered Elia and Aegon. Arthur sharpened Dawn's blade each night and loosened his muscles each morning in preparation for finally meeting the man. It had been something he'd thought long and hard about over the years and had come close to doing far before now. Only the fact of Jon's existence had stayed his hand. He wasn't worried that in facing the man he'd take a risk and not be there for his king, even though it was one. More that in slaying the Mountain rumors of his survival would spread and harm his king because of it.
It was why he'd kept his visits to Starfall to a minimum and why he'd only ever truly wielded his blade in Essos over the past five and ten years. Even should news reach Westeros of a man bearing Dawn over there, it would be over there they looked and not here. Arthur hating the idea that they'd think him to be with Rhaegar's sister and brother but willing for it if it kept their eyes far away from his son. That he'd lost the children themselves was enough of a failure in his eyes, to then lose Jon also would make his survival have been for naught. Something that Stark had almost managed to do anyway.
Robert Baratheon, Jon Arryn, Hoster Tully, Tywin Lannister, Varys, Jaime Lannister, Amory Lorch, and the Mountain. There should be no more room on the list of men he hated and certainly, none should find their way to the top of that list, and yet Ned Stark had. An honorable man who'd treat his nephew well and would tell him the truth when the time was right. How had he been so damn naïve to believe it? he thought bitterly as he poked the fire. Were the man not already dead then nothing would sway his sword to make it so, not even an order from his king. Seeing Jon bid him join them he shook his head free of the thoughts and went to sit with his king and the others, eager to hear what he had to say.
"I've sent Ghost and Nymeria on ahead of the men, I think I've found where it can be done but we'll need to ride hard to reach it in time." Jon said as Arthur took his seat beside Richard and the others.
"Reach where your grace?" one of the men asked.
"There is a small copse by a steam less than a day's ride from where the Mountain and his men are, if it were me I'd pick there to stay the night." Jon said and Arthur nodded.
"What is your plan, your grace?" Lord Beric asked.
Arthur listened as Jon explained what he thought they should do and he was soon smiling when he found no fault in it nor did anyone else. He, Richard, Beric, and Thoros were then asked to join Jon as he took a walk down to the stream nearby. There was clearly something on his mind that he didn't wish the others to know about and Arthur was most keen to find out what that was. It turned out he didn't have to wait too long and he was very happy with what he heard.
"No doubt you've all heard the stories, of how Princess Elia was raped and split almost in two. How Aegon was thrown so hard against the wall that his head was crushed and that Rhaenys was stabbed half a hundred times." Jon said to nods.
"Aye, your grace we heard." Ser Richard said his face almost snarling in his anger.
"The men responsible for those atrocities now have my sister. The Mountain and Amory Lorch." Jon said before grimacing.
"How can you be so certain of that your grace? "Lord Beric said "Of their responsibility I mean, not that they're with this group." he quickly added.
"The same way I know that there's a dragon that lives on Skagos." Jon said surprising them all.
"The black dragon, your grace?" Thoros asked hopefully.
"The black dragon, aye. I feel him and in my dreams, I've been with him and he's waiting for me there." Jon said.
"Why don't you call him your grace, have him come here, we could use his help could we not?" Richard asked.
"He wishes me to prove myself first." Jon said cryptically before continuing "A tale for another day. The Mountain raped and killed Princess Elia and murdered my brother, Amory Lorch murdered my sister and we all know on whose orders they did so. They stole the chance of knowing my family from me and now they have more of my family in their clutches. My sister is my priority, if Lorch and the Mountain can fall today then so be it but my sister is my priority." Jon said.
"Of course your grace." Richard said.
"The Mountain, Amory Lorch, Tywin Lannister, be it today, tomorrow or weeks from now they'll pay for their crimes but should it be today then there is something we can do with them, a use we can find for them in death that they have not in life." Jon said.
"Your grace?" he asked confused.
"Dorne, Ser Arthur, Dorne." Jon said and Arthur nodded.
They walked back to the camp and mounted up, Arthur seeing the determined look on Jon's face as he nodded to him and they rode off. It was just after Dusk that they stopped and rested up, the copse now less than a mile away from them and Jon telling them they were there camped just as he'd thought they would be. While they ate and rested the horses, Jon began to draw a map of the camp they were to attack. Arthur listening as he told them they'd have no need to worry about the sentries as the wolves would see to them. After eating and waiting for night to fall, Arthur was glad to see the moon bathed in shadow, Jon walked to him and whispered in his ear. His king stood there looking at him for some time, Arthur finally nodding his agreement and being reward by a smile that took him back to a tower in Dorne.
"Thank you Arthur." Jon said as he walked away and mounted his horse and Arthur watched him and swore it would not be for the last time.
"My sister Arthur, her over me. Promise me?"
It was a promise he knew he would never be able to keep.
Skagos 298 AC.
It was different, he felt different, his bonded felt different and he found he very much enjoyed just how different it all was. After being alone for so long, to finally feel someone with him was a most welcome feeling and it made all he'd done seem worthwhile. That he wasn't with him physically didn't bother him as much, as he knew he was coming and that it was only a matter of time until they were together. What pleased him most was his eagerness to be with him was the same as his own to be with his bonded. Both of them wished to be together and it had almost made him leave and go to him, rather than have him come his way.
He could not though, he needed to be sure and to hear from his bonded's lips his name, to hear it spoken aloud for the first time. He felt he knew it, along with all the other things he seemed to know of him. That he wasn't the Cannibal as people had dubbed him and that he had reasons for all that he'd done. His bonded not judging him and instead thanking him for waiting for him and promising that he would come and come soon.
It made his hunts more enjoyable, his food tasted better and it had led to him doing things he'd not done in an age. In the dark of night far from land, he'd flown close to the water and unleashed his flames, he flew high in the sky and let them loose as well. He tested himself, his ability to dive, to turn sharply. He let his flames loose in short powerful bursts and in long-drawn-out ones each one lasting longer each time. Training himself, he was training himself just as his bonded was each day and he was just like him, getting stronger by doing so.
His bond with his bonded was getting stronger too, the more time they spent together in this dream state where they were connected only by their minds, the more that bond grew. He could feel his bonded doubts, his fears, and worries and he did all he could to assuage them. Just as his bonded did with his own, telling him that he had done what he needed to do and that there had been a reason for it. They were meant to be, all dragons needed a Dragonrider and all Dragonrider's needed a dragon, his bonded had said and that they belonged to each other.
Tonight though it was different, his bonded was far more worried and so his own worry grew. He found himself looking deeper inside his bonded as he had found his bonded look into him occasionally too and what he found made him fearful and angry. The risk was too great and was he just to come to him now then they could take that risk together. It was something they argued about and were at odds over and then his bonded put some of his fears at rest.
"We were meant to be together and we will be together." his bonded said and finally he was able to rest easy.
That rest didn't last too long as he felt his bonded now riding into danger, too far for him to fly to even was it time to do so. He could not help in that way as much as he wished to and so he helped in the only way he could, he shared his strength with his bonded and fuelled the fire that he already had within himself.
"We are meant to be together and we will be together" he said and he felt his bonded grow stronger from his words.
Riverlands 298 AC.
Jon Snow.
The dream was different this night, the girl more fearful and his presence taking longer to calm her. He walked to her as she stood on the balcony and looked out at the city below, her silk dress was blowing in the night wind, and her hands were crossed in front of her. She stiffened against him and then turned to him, her fingers brushing his face as he closed his eyes and felt them as if they were real and this was not a dream.
"You came." she said almost shakily.
"Always." he said.
"I feared you would not, that you had left me." she said her voice sad.
"I'll never leave you." he said moving forward to kiss her lips.
The two of them kissed for some time, their tongues moving over each other's as hands began to roam and skin was touched. Both of them breaking apart and looking breathlessly at each other before as one they began to laugh.
"When we meet will it be like this?" she asked.
"Better." he said seeing her smirk.
"Look." she said pointing to the night sky where three dragons flew through the air.
"They're bigger." he said and she nodded.
"After the Warlocks tried to take me after you and they saved me, they grew." she said.
"You are safe?" he asked reaching out to touch her face and feeling her lean into his touch.
"I am safe."
"The Whitebeard?" he asked and she shook her head.
"I net someone a woman, she knew of you." she said.
"Quaithe of the Shadow."
"You know her?" she asked and he shook his head.
"No, yes, I..she is us. I don't…I have to go." he said as she began to fade "I have to go."
He opened his eyes to see he was mounted on his horse and looking down in the valley below, the camp stretched out in front of him and Ghost and Nymeria ready and waiting for the signal. The dream had been so real once more and just like the one with the dragon had come as he was awake. Jon trying not to think how that could be nor how he must have looked to those around him. What they must have thought of him sleeping on a horse while ready to order an attack not something he wished to know. Yet as he looked to Arthur and Richard who were both beside him, he could see neither was looking at him with concern or confusion and he began to think he may not have been asleep at all.
"You move your grace, when you're down there you don't stop moving, you understand?" Arthur said.
"I understand." he said pulling Blackfyre from its sheathe and raising it in the air, waving it forward to give the signal.
As one, almost fifty men rode down on those below while from the trees Anguy and his archers loosed a volley and Jon heard the screams as Ghost and Nymeria launched their own attack. Beric and Thoros both held flaming swords in their hands as they rode. Arthur raised Dawn and Blackfyre caught the neck of a man in front of Jon's horse, the Valyrian Steel removing the head as if it was nothing. He rode down another man and stabbed down to kill another while behind him men on horseback cut through those who were not.
He heard the thump as a man was pulled from his horse and he slashed down when someone tried to do the same to him. Jon quickly seeing that the fight would now be fought on the ground and so he jumped from his horse rather than allowed himself to be pulled from it. He was soon facing two ugly brutes of men, one bearing a large axe and the other a spear, both moving towards him. Neither of them would make it though as the first was taken down by an arrow and the second by a white wolf. Ghost tearing into the man silently as Jon looked around to get his bearings.
Around him was absolute carnage, he saw men aflame and Ser Richard fighting with two men at once, neither of whom would last much longer given how it looked. Off in the distance, he could see the flaming swords of Beric and Thoros and he could hear the screams of the men who found those flames. Arthur strode majestically towards him, cutting down men almost casually and Jon could only admire just how easily he did so. He shook his head, this was no time to admire the fight around him and so he looked to Ghost.
"Take me to her boy."
The white wolf needed no second bidding and soon enough Jon was being taken to the sound of screams, men's screams thank the gods, and not those of a little girl. It didn't take too long to see the source of those screams as Nymeria tore apart a man who moved towards a small figure, Jon smiling to see who it was.
"Help her boy."
Once again words were not needed as Ghost did as he was bid as soon as Jon thought it. The white wolf soon tearing into the man who'd tried to sneak up behind Arya. Jon moved toward her himself only for two men to stand in his way. One was a large man with a greatsword and the other a small piggy faced man who as soon as Jon saw the sigil on his tunic, he knew that he would kill that man before the night was done.
"Lorch." he shouted as he moved quickly towards him.
The large man with the greatsword tried to intercept him to no avail. Jon quickly finding out that once you paid no mind to the imposing figure he presented, the man himself offered no true test. He simply dodged his strike and thrust out with Blackfyre, the blade cutting through the man's cheaply made armor and gutting him right in front of him. It left him alone with Lorch and Jon found the man was a coward to the end. Lorch dropping to his knees and letting his sword fall to the ground, tears falling from his eyes as he begged for his life.
"Please, I surrender, I surrender, mercy." Lorch said his voice sounding far too much like a little girl's to Jon's ears and he felt the fire inside him begin to rage and burn.
"What mercy did you give my sister? What mercy did you offer her? Damn you for what you did to her, damn you to the seven hells." he said as he swung Blackfyre at the man in front of him.
The strikes cut deep and the blood-splattered onto his armor, half a hundred he'd given to a three name day old girl. His piggy face and deep-set eyes the last thing that she had seen before her light was taken from this world. How many he hit the man with in payback he couldn't tell. Was it half a hundred, perhaps not but it was damn close? Jon using the last one to take the man's head from his shoulders and finally being able to breathe normally once more when he did so. He was about to move towards Arya and the wolves when he heard the sound of the footsteps behind him and he turned as the voice bellowed out.
"Boy." the Mountain said his voice sounding like a shout though Jon was sure it was just how he spoke.
Gripping Blackfyre with both his hands he moved forward and readied to face the giant in front of him, the greatsword swinging down towards his as he went to parry. The vibration of the two swords clashing though never traveled up his arm. The sound that rang out confusing him for a moment as he wondered why he'd not felt it. Then he saw the blade that had caught the blow and he realized it wasn't his. Ser Arthur now standing in front of the Mountain with Dawn outstretched.
"This has been a long time coming, Clegane." Arthur said as he began to move toward the Mountain.
Around them the fighting had stopped, Jon glancing to see that Arya and the wolves had no one near and that his sister was walking his way. His eyes then going back to the fight in front of him. The Mountain dwarfed Arthur and was far more quick than a man of his size should be, yet compared to the man he faced he was incredibly slow. Jon even thinking that he was far faster than this when he and Arthur sparred. He was also clearly out of his depth when it came to skills. Arthur easily deflecting the blows from the greatsword and the Mountain barely able to stop Dawn's own from landing. Where it not for his armor's thickness then this fight would already be over.
Jon watched on both eagerly and nervously, the Mountain would die here today that much was clear to any. His men were dead or wounded, while most of the Brotherhood seemed to be unharmed. The only true question that needed to be answered was how and by who he would fall. It was an answer that Jon already knew and as he looked on, he saw when Arthur had maneuvered the Mountain to his end. The knight having forced Clegane sideward's and then when the opening came, Arthur wasted no time.
How deep Dawn's blade went into the gap between arm and shoulder Jon couldn't tell but the Mountain didn't even speak a word as he fell. Jon watching as once he did, Arthur moved and took the man's head as easily as he'd taken his life. The sounds of the wolves behind him had him turning and he saw her then. Arya looking at him and her smile beaming as she ran to him, Needle in her hands as she jumped into his arms.
"Jon." she said loudly.
"Aye, little sister, it's me." he said hugging her tightly against his chest.
A/N: Thanks to all who've read and reviewed. Up Next Jon and Arya spend time together and speak of their other sister and the plan to rescue her. Catelyn finds out just what happens when brothers aren't on the same page. The Iron Born attack the North and Dany meets a living legend.
The Spinx: love the poem as always my friend.
Jessicanightmarewolf: We'll find out his true name in a chapter or two. Oh, it really will be, he's pretty much Balerion sized and he has the age too and the magic which really will be something to see when he lets his flames loose. Sansa is next on Jon's list, I hope you like what I've planned for her.
Hell of sounds: Thank you, hope you like where it goes.
Patriot: We'll see how effective scorpions would be against a full-sized dragon, it's unrealistic they could hurt him tbh, Cannibal is going to be a huge surprise, like huge because even expecting dragons, they won't be expecting this one.
Suppes: Yeah I have no idea what happened, all my stories are under the same name on another site anyway so if there are issues you can find them there.
Hartley Skasgard: Thank you, as you see Robb is already thinking differently and has taken different actions so we'll see the effects of that play out over the next few chapters.
Blackwidow: Thanks so much, hope you continue to like it.
Guest: If it's not to your taste then don't read it.
Dunk: It won't be a huge gap, a couple more chapters max. As you know I try to change things up so they're not rehashes of each other and use the little changes to make the stories flow differently, Jon coming south has caused some ripples which we'll see play out and I wanted to use something different with Jon/Dany rather than them being obvious to each other. As for Cat, she's not going to love Jon here but she's looking at him differently and should she find out about his rescues, even more so.
Xand007: Thanks my friend, I find that can be hard when you're not invested in the pairing but hopefully the rest makes up for it. Cat and Robb are both changed by Jon's journey south, how much we'll find out. With Cannibal I always wanted to do something with him and it takes out Jon hatching an egg or waiting for Dany to bring Rhaegal to him which is a nice twist. Stay safe and well my friend.
MercyRose: So glad you like it, I want to give out some of the mystery so that you can put it together and it's not completely vague or pulled out of my ass later on, but I do intend to explain as much of things as I can as we go. Thanks for saying that about the romance, I'm the same I think the characters drive the story and while I don't claim to write Romeo and Juliet level of romance, I think I do a decent enough job with it that it's appreciated, it's nice to know you do so.
Keb: So very glad you're liking it, I wanted to do an earlier spin on Jon/Dany meeting knowing of each other than canon and to take some events and twist them around.