Wife of the Wolf, Husband of The Sun

by DiscordantSymphony

Events changed and the marriage of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell is called off. Rhaegar will marry Cersei Lannister and have gold and silver dragons meanwhile Elia will go north and marry Eddard Stark and from them will spring a great dynasty. Will contain some show elements, slow burn.

74. Chapter 74

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Seventy-Four

A dull ache had grown in his thighs and Ned was fairly sure without even looking that skin would be rubbed red raw, he was not the horseman of the family that had always been Lya, even Brandon and Benjen both seemed to take to horses better than he ever had. Ned had been a serviceable rider but he had never taken any great pleasure in that.

But even if he had enjoyed riding any great deal he imagined the amount of it he had been doing lately would be enough to make him hate, it seemed that had had spent more than half of his time on horseback since he had set out from the Gates of the Moon, and when he hadn't been on horseback he had been traveling on ships and in truth that was not something he enjoyed any better than riding.

He did not voice any of these complaints of course, he was a man with a wife and children and not a boy who would whine at the slightest bit of uncomfortableness and there were so many more things more important this own comfort but all the same that did not mean that Ned couldn't hate it in his head while he lead the men of the North.

And by the gods were there a lot of men to lead, the ravens that his Father had sent out to his bannermen to assemble at White Harbor had gone out before Ned had left the Vale and when he had finally arrived at the port, he found that ten thousand Northmen were waiting outside the walls of the city, with more and more arriving each day according to the people of White Harbor.

Lord Wyman had him to sup in the New Castle though thankfully it seemed that now that Winter was in full force, Lord Manderly had chosen to put more of his food into stores and the supper that was given to him was far more modest and Ned had no complaints at all about that. As they had supped, Manderly had told him much and more of what had happened as he had been travailing back to the North.

Reports for the most part were confused, some said that the King had been amassing his own forces and was right now marching on the North, the armies burning everything as they went, other reports said that the King had not yet bestirred himself from King's Landing and was instead still waiting for his loyal men to attend him to seek their counsel.

A coup had taken place in the capital and the King was dead and the young hand Jon Connington was now in control of the Red Keep, no it was the Queen that had sized control of the castle and killed the King, no it was the small council acting as one, no it was an army of devout smallfolk who had been plotting ever since the old High Septon had been burned alive who stormed the Red Keep and burned the King alive for revenge and put a member of the Most Devout on the throne in his place.

The Red Keep had been burned down when King Aerys's pet pyromancers had tried to do a display with wildfire and it had gotten out of control and now the entire south was in chaos and a Grand Council was sure to be called, Princess Cersei had been sent back to Casterly Rock with her marriage annulled and Prince Rhaegar and Lady Lyanna had been wed in the Sept of Baelor.

Robert and Stannis Baratheon were dead and Storm's End was under siege as the King had declared that all within the castle were traitors and he wished for the heads of all still in the castle, including little Renly who was now the Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. Robert and Stannis were still alive but were being tortured in the Black Cells, Robert and Stannis had been hung, naked and flayed, from the walls of the city, Robert and Stannis had their tongues ripped out and sent to serve penance at a sept for the rest of their lives, they had both died and the Storm God had sent a massive tempest on to King's Landing as punishment.

A thousand different tales came from the south and still Ned did not know the truth. He was fairly certain, though it was like a blade to his heart to admit it, that Robert and Stannis were both dead and if he was right when it came to that then it meant that Renly Baratheon, a boy no older than five if Ned remembered correctly, was the Lord of Storm's End.

Gods, how had all of this happened? He was still half convinced that all of this was some nightmare, surely it was too absurd to actually be real? Perhaps soon enough he would wake up and find himself in his bed next to Elia, her dark eyes would be shinning and her belly would still be swollen with their babe, they would embrace and not make any attempt to get out of bed till the sun was hanging high in the sky.

Yes, surely he would be waking up any moment now. His horse chose that moment to shit on the ground and despite himself Ned couldn't help but chuckle as his lips formed into a humorless smirk, perhaps the gods were trying to tell him something.

Once it had become clear that they were unlikely to learn the actual truth of what had happened in the capital for a while and nor could they wait if it meant that a southern army could be marching up the causeway while they were doing so, Ned knew that he had to act. There was no sign of his Father and there had been no more word from Winterfell since the birds giving the order to go to White Harbor had flown, Brandon had fled and so it had fallen on to Ned.

He had never thought that he would ever need to command an army, that had meant to be Brandon's role while Ned was meant to follow him. But Brandon was gone and he was going to be the Lord, it had to be him. It was his duty and he would fulfill it as well as he was able. And so, Ned had summoned the lords to Lord Manderly's solar and conversed with them what he meant to do.

It had not been easy, many of the lords were older than him and Ned soon found that many of them thought he had no place leading them. He was still too young, they were quick to say and he was not their lord yet. Ned did not now how to argue against that as neither of those points were false but all the same he had to and so he stood his ground against all of them, reminding them that it was to Winterfell that they all were sworn and the Starks as well. And he was the only Stark there, so they could follow him or they could break their oaths like cravens, flee to their castles and he would deal with them when he returned.

The shaming from a man younger than them had done it for most of them, though some with cooler heads and evener tempers had not been so easily convinced but they had already marched their men all this way and they could not turn back now and so if they had anything else to say to Ned about him commanding the host they said nothing of it, though he knew he would have to keep those lord's close and seek their counsel if he wanted to keep them sweet.

He did have some lords who were already happy to follow him, Howland Reed was only the heir to Greywater Watch as Ned was only the heir to Winterfell but he had been ruling in his father's stead ever since he had grown ill and his own influence over the men of the Neck made him a valuable ally to have in his corner and not for the first time over the past few weeks Ned was glad of his presense.

Willam Dustin had been Lord of Barrowtown for only half a year and had been married only just as long as that, he was closer to Brandon in age and from what Ned had gathered had grown close to his brother when Brandon had been fostered there. When he had meet the Lord for the first time he had pulled Ned close and slapped him on the back, telling him that Brandon had told him a lot about him and that he was with him.

With the Lord of Barrowtown had come the Ryswells of the Rills, Willam had married Lord Rodrik Ryswell's younger daughter Barbrey and his goodfather and goodbrothers had come to answer the call. Lord Rodrik reminded Ned of his own Father, not so much in terms of looks as Lord Rickard had been a massive man both in height and width where as Lord Rodrik was lean and had rather pointed features, but both men's demeanor was stern and cold, and he could not say that in it's own way that was not comforting.

When the Ryswells had seen Willam was quick to embrace and put his trust in him it had warmed them to him slightly though Rodrik had still been hesitant to place himself under the command of an heir when the father was still alive. Ned himself did have to wonder what exactly Father was doing and why he hadn't at any point come to White Harbour.

To be sure, he had been weak after his heart attack but he had seemed much improved since then, he had refused the maester's orders to rest and he had never even touched the walking stick that had been carved for him. So why had he never came? It was a thought that turned his stomach every time he ever gave it consideration. And Winterfell had been silent on the matter.

The kinship between Karstark and Stark was still strong and Lord Karstark himself had said that if Lord Rickard had not bestirred himself from Winterfell then all it could mean was that he had a great deal of trust in his Ned and if Lord Rickard trusted him then so did the Karstarks and that show of early support had been needed, desperately.

The Umbers were also quick to side with him Lord Rickon and his brother Mors were bother older men than he but they had made it clear to him they did not intend to turn back and march to Last Hearth now, Winters so close to the Wall were known to be brutal and the grounds of Last Hearth were known to be hard to grow much crops, even in the summer, and so a few mouths marching South was for the best of them.

Jon Umber had come with his Father and Uncle and he stood half a head taller than either of them with a massive sword meant to be used with two hands strapped to his back, the man seemed eager for a fight and Ned couldn't deny that it amused him to see that this massive man reminded him so much like Benjen when Father had given him his first wooden sword.

Soon enough, after hours of haggling like a fishwife who was trying to get the best price for her catch, Ned knew that he would have enough support of the Lords to ride to war. And he meant to do it as soon as possible, dead or alive Robert was his brother and Lyanna was his sister and could be suffering from anything at this moment, he had to go to them.

So in the morning he wrote a quick letter to Elia which he made sure was sent of by the Maester of the New Castle to inform her that he was well and what he had to do before he had walked out of White Harbour and mounted the horse which had been given to him by Lord Manderly, and it seemed that was another little debt that the Starks would owe them, they had been racking up quite a large amount of them as of late, and rode at the head of his host as they made their way to Moat Cailin.

Every hour that they rode Ned had a different lord ride at his side so he could ask them questions and for their opinion, he had once heard his Father tell Brandon to never let the men who followed him die for a stranger and while the lesson might not have been meant for him it was one that Ned had taken to heart. He summoned the oldest lords first and had listened to their opinions of what they thought that he should do, he had not argued against any of their suggestions but nor had he supported any of them, he merely nodded, asked a few questions and then thanked them for their wisdom.

He called then the lords that were closer to his own age up after them, with them their conversations were less about the war that was to come and more about their own lives and families. There had not been a war since Ned had been born and he knew little of fighting battles in practice and the same could be sad for any of them, they had learned from their Fathers as Ned had but none of them had actually fought a war before.

Ned had to wonder if there was something wrong with him as all these young lords, few much older than him, seemed so ready for the battles ahead. Jon Umber boasted of how he would smash the gates of the Red Keep down himself and fight all seven of the sworn brothers of the Kingsguard single handed if he had to, Rickard Karstark spoke of how he wanted to fight Prince Rhaegar for himself and piss down his throat for taking Lyanna.

Ned had never thought of himself as a coward and it was not fear that he felt when he thought of what lay ahead of all of them but it wasn't thoughts of honor and glory either. There just seemed to be a pit of anxiousness as he thought of putting his own men against another army, when he thought that he would probably have to kill others who committed no crime, their only crime being picking a different side.

Failure was the only thing that truly scared him, that he would fail and lose and die. It was not himself dying that truly scared him, though he doubted that it would be a pleasant experience, no he was afraid of what would happen after he was dead. What would happen to Lyanna? Would she still be held prisoner by Prince Rhaegar? Would his wife and his father and his brother and his sons and his babe that was growing in Elia's belly be punished for his rebellion, would they be killed as well.

That made him feel fear, that terrified him but he knew that he could not show it or his lords would think of him as weak, as craven. So Ned kept his face as still as stone and merely kept his gaze looked ahead of him as they rode onward.

A host is a slow moving thing and it took them several days before they finally arrived at Moat Cailin, a key part of the defenses of the North even if it didn't quite look like it. It was a ruin but a thousand men could hold the ruin against a host of a hundred thousand or more or at least that was what Father had always said. He hoped that he proved to be right.

All the same, he meant to leave more than just a thousand men to guard the ruin. He meant to leave almost all of them in fact, when he had told his lords this almost all of them had objected to his decision but Ned would not have his mind changed on this. They needed to know what was happening in the south and Ned needed to see it for himself, he had heard a thousand stories but what he needed was the truth.

So it was then that Ned came to his decision, he would keep the greater part of his strength back at Moat Cailin while he took a smaller number of men down through the Neck to scout ahead and make a break for...somewhere. Even to this point, he was not entirely sure where exactly he should go but he convinced himself that he would know once he was out on the other side of the Neck.

In the end he choose to take no more than five hundred men with him, some of the older lords had argued against that as well but he had managed to make them see his reasoning for it. He needed a large enough party that any hosts that any Lords in the south might have already gathered would take a moment to hesitate at joining them in battle but at the same time be quick enough to cover ground, in truth his plan was for them to be a large group of scouts.

It had it's dangers but it was the best plan he had for the moment, he had to hope that Jon Arryn was also gathering his own forces in the Vale and would soon march out from that kingdom. For a moment Ned thought about heading back to the Vale but then he realized that would not truly accomplish anything and that he would have to strike out for somewhere else.

He would make his decision once they were in the south and thus he set about assembling his group of men, of the five hundred he would take with them the core of it would be two hundred Ryswell men, they breed the finest horses in the North and if you asked them in all of the Seven Kingdoms, and there were some of the finest, and more importantly to Ned at that moment, the fastest riders he had ever seen.

Mark Rsywell, younger brother to Lord Rodrik, had been placed in command of the Ryswll men while his older brother remained at the Moat with the greater part of his force. Mark wasn't much like his brother, either in looks or in temperament. Where as Lord Rodrick was thin with a head of red gold hair his younger brother was tall and broad with a head of dark black hair, with sea green eyes and an easy, gentle smile. In his youth he had been fostered at White Harbor and had squired for a knight in service in the Manderly's and when he had returned to the Rills he had been a knight in his own right, one of the few in the North outside of White Harbor.

Other than the two hundred men from the Rills, he also took with him fifty men of the Dreadfort under the command of their Lord Roose Bolton, Bernard Bolton had died over a year and a half ago and there had been some whispers that the illness that had taken him had not been entirely natural but Ned paid no mind to those whispers, it had not been the first time that things of such a nature had been whispered about the Boltons, it was something of a reputation they had earned for themselves considering they had twice rebelled against Winterfell. The stain that had left on them could not at all be denied.

However even with Ned knowing that it was simply a matter of the legacy the Boltons had made for themselves he could not deny that Roose Bolton unsettled him somewhat, the man could be no more than five years older than Ned himself and yet with his pale skin stretched over his bones and even paler eyes, he seemed much older than that. He also did not speak as much as the rest of the lords did.

While other lords boasted about what great feats they would no doubt achieve when they marched to war and meet their enemies, Lord Bolton said nothing and simply watched them as they spoke. When he did deign to speak, he spoke so softly that Ned often had to strain if he wanted to hear him and he never spoke more than a few words.

The other lords it seemed kept their distance as well, perhaps because they found him to be as disquieting as Ned did. In truth however it seemed that Lord Bolton approved of them keeping his distance as well, at times Ned was sure that he caught sight of a look of utter contempt on Lord Bolton's face whenever a cheer went up or whenever some laughed too loudly in his hearing.

He also took fifty Karstark Men and Fifty men from from Cerwyn and fifty men from Umber and finally a hundred men from Winterfell which when they had arrived he had placed under the direct command of Martyn Cassel, the man had been a boon ever since Lyanna had been taken from them at the shores of the God's Eye. The men were loyal to his Father and if he kept a hundred around him then that meant that he had a loyal core about him he knew he could trust but none of the Lords could argue that they were not trusted, as he had brought men from their lands as well as a hundred more Ryswell men than Stark.

Once he had his men they began to make their way down the causeway into the Neck, all they had to do was stick to the path and they would make it through without a problem but the causeway was narrow so they could not ride at more than five abreast of one another and even with just five hundred men it was a slow going journey.

A part of him had hoped that Howland Reed might know some quicker hidden way through the bog that would get them to the other side quicker, a secret way known only to the Crannogmen but alas when he asked Howland if such might be the case his friend had informed him that while he did know of someways that might be quicker than going by horse on the causeway, they all involved traveling along the water ways of the bogs and they would need small boats that the Crannogmen used, which were built for the size of the men of the Neck and not for men of the North, if they were lucky Howland had told him they would be able to fit one man in one boat.

Compounding that of course was also the fact that they would need to leave all of the horses behind and while it might have been quicker it was not by any means the safer and surer route, the Crannogmen who sailed the waters had learned how to do it over years and years and few men of the North could be called natural sailors, few who know how to avoid a lizard lion or how to move the boat through the waters when they became to narrow and even those who did sail for years in the darkness of that bog could get lost and they were even more likely to do so.

So it was the causeway that they were left with, it took them three days to get through it with Ned pushing the host to go as fast as they could. Every second was precious and Ned meant to not waste a single one of them. Thankfully, the men that followed him understood was was at sake. News of Lyanna's kidnapping had spread through the North quickly once the Northmen of his sister's honor guard had returned to the North.

Once they had made it through the Neck and had entered the Riverlands another choice was presented to them, if to carry on down the Road or to head to the Twins and cross the river there. It would be quicker certainly but who knew what had changed in the days since they had started travailing down through the Neck? What was the chance that Walder Frey would open his gates to them.

And so they hurried down the main road and as they traveled Ned began to notice something, he saw no highborn men or women on the road. At first he thought that it might be a good thing as he didn't want for them to be seen, they were a quick party that were to get where they were going as fast as possible and they did not wanted to be stopped but still it unnerved him.

There was something in the air, like just before a storm was about to break out. It left a heavy pressure on Ned's chest and it only got worse as he watched Riverrun pass in the distance as they rode passed it. The beautiful castle of the Lord Paramount of the Trident silent, when it should have been a hub of noise. It was as if something had slipped into every castle while they had been travailing and killed all those inside, it was so silent.

"It is a holding pattern." Roose Bolton suggested as they sat huddled together in the darkness, munching on hardtack biscuits spread with a thin layer of overly salted potted hair on top of it. Ned had insisted on not building any fires at night which might not be a decision that would make him loved in the short run but it would keep them safer, and they were northmen, this cold was nothing they would not survive.

Ned had asked Lord Bolton what he had meant and the Lord of the Dreadfort had continued on, speaking more words than Ned thought he had ever heard from him. "Much and more is uncertain as of now, A Lord Paramount and his brother are captives at the best or executed as traitors at worst. The Riverlands is historically one of the most invaded kingdoms, as is only to be expected when it makes up the middle of Westeros, the Riverlords do not yet know who is friend or foe. They are hiding in their castles, waiting to see how the dice land."

Perhaps Lord Bolton had the truth of it in a sense but Ned couldn't help but think there was something more in it. Hoster Tully had taken part in his Father and Jon Arryn and Doran Martell's scheming and then his daughters had been shamed, both of them. Ned still couldn't help but hate Brandon a little bit for what he had done to poor Catelyn Tully, she was a gentle woman with a good heart and she had not deserved even half a bit of the shame that he had inflicted on to her when he had run off with Lady Ashara.

And while the shame might not have been quite so public for Lady Lysa, it must still have been awful when Ser Jaime had joined the Kingsguard. Both of his daughters had been shamed, one by a member of the family who he had spent only the gods knew how much time scheming against while the other had been shamed by the son of the man whose daughter was wed to the Prince.

Lord Hoster was caught in the middle of the entire mess of it, just like the land that he ruled. Neither side could truly claim that they had treated him better but at the same time he would need to choose a side and Ned could only hope that in the end he would choose to come back and fight with them against Aerys, but he somehow doubted that would wind up happening, or at least that it wouldn't be that simple.

They carried onward, riding as fast as they could just before dawn and through till the sun went down once again and huddling together in the dark as they made their way to the destination. In truth, Ned knew there was only one place that he was ever going to go and that had to be Storm's End. With Robert and Stannis dead or captured, Storm's End was left in the hands of Renly and Ned owed it, both to Robert and Stannis, to keep their little brother safe and the Stormlords were the most likely to take arms against the King, seeing as most of the houses of the stormlands has also had sons or nephews who had been arrested alongside Robert when he had laid a charge against the Red Keep.

The biggest problem of course was that the most direct route to Storm's End was through the Crownlands and Ned didn't see what choice they had but to pass through it, the feeling of pressure on his chest that he had through the Riverlands came back to him as they rode as fast as they could in the lands that the king directly rule, as if any moment an army to capture them was going to pass over the next hill. The shadow of the Red Keep loomed over all and the leather of the horse's reins cut into his hands as they rode.

Perhaps, however, the Old Gods did still have some power left in the South as the fields of the Crownlands were also thinly people and it was mostly farmers and fisher folk that they had seen as they traveled. It was as like that the King had summoned all of his banners and they had gone to King's Landing to answer the call, luck for them in the short term but it meant that battle was closer and closer.

Soon enough they had passed from the Crownlands into the Stormlands but Ned kept them at a punishing pace, he would have to be sure that the men were allowed ample time to rest but they could do that once they were at Storm's End. When the massive castle began to peak over the edge, Ned could not help but smile for what seemed like the first time in far too long.

The drawbridge of the castle was lowered and the gate was raised once Ned had called out who they were and the host rode in, once all of them had come inside the drawbridge was raised once again and a small, old grey man with a heavy chain around his shoulders walked up to him. A maester, and Ned recognized him from the last time he had visited Storm's End with Robert as Cressen. "My lords, I bid all of you welcome. Many guests have come to Storm's End in recent time but not quite as in large numbers as yours."

Ned climbed down from his horse and tried to ignore the tingling in them and the pain in his arse as he stood before the maester. "Forgive us for not sending word ahead, good Maester. But birds can be shot down and these are troubled times as you are no doubt aware. My lords have come a long way, if our number is inconvenient that I apologies but is there hope for bread and salt?"

"Of course, Storm's End shall never lack for hospitality I hope." The old man smiled then but it did seem a tad forced as he looked at Ned and his eyes were filled with sorrow. "It is you, is it not Lord Eddard? You were so very young the last time that I saw you, oh, those were happier days than they were now I am afraid to say."

"They were, good maester Cressen. You spoke of other guests?"

"Yes, I did. I imagine they would wish to see you. My Lords have having a debate on certain matters in the Great Hall." Cressen gestured to the building and Ned nodded, leaving the men he had brought with him to the care of Storm's End servants as squires and stable boys came to take their horses. The gentle chinking of a chain informed him that Cressen was following behind him.

A laugh, loud and joyful, filled the air and it seemed even more blatant during a time of such trouble. A little boy was running around the grounds, swinging a wooden sword through the air. With his coal black hair and deep blue eyes there could be no doubt that it was Renly and for a moment Ned thought that he might have seen a ghost, he was not so broad as Robert had been even at that age but even so the semblance was uncanny.

And he was laughing like he had not a care in the world. Ned glanced back as Cressen who at the very least had the decency to look like he was ashamed. "Has he not been told?"

"No, not yet."

"Why not?"

"He is a child."

"He still needs to know."

"And he will, just...not yet. Please Lord Eddard, my lords will explain once we are inside."

Ned sighed and spared one more glance at Renly before he carried on his way towards the Great Hall, as he approached he heard what sounded like a thousand voices screaming at one another and when the doors were opened every single eye landed on to him and all of the voices died down as Ned had to force himself to stop from swallowing painfully.

Ned was suddenly painfully aware of how young he was as he stepped into the Hall, men with beards covering their entire faces, greybeards, men who looked like they could pick Ned up and break him without trying. There was a woman in the room as well but she held a dignity in her features that held little softness, with grey hair with only a few streaks of brown left in it and a heavy cloak of owl feathers draped around her shoulders, and Ned felt completely outnumbered.

He should have waited for the others to come with him.

Well, too late for that. Ned cleared his throat. "My lords, my lady. I do not know if most of you know who I am but my name is Eddard Stark, the heir to Winterfell. I was fostered with Lord Robert Baratheon at the Eyrie under Lord Jon Arryn, Robert was not my brother by blood but I loved him as well as I would have if I was. I've come for him."

Someone scoffed, though Ned could not see who it was from where he was standing. "You're a bit late I am afraid my Lord Eddard, Robert's dead. King Aerys made that quite clear in the ravens he sent us."

Well then, that confirmed it. Robert, and most like Stannis, was dead. He had known that it was the most likely outcome but that did not stop the confirmation of it from ripping through him like a blade through his heart. Ned had to take a moment to breath, if he cried in front of them then he would never be able to speak in front of them again. "I am...I share your grief my lords, and your rage."

"I have no rage for Robert Baratheon, why should I?" The grey haired woman spoke then, her teeth were clenched together. "He convinced two of my younger sons to go with him to lay seige on the Red Keep, to get your sister back as I hear it when she ran off with Prince Rhaegar. Now my sons are dead, I hope Aerys killed him slow for it."

"My lady I beg of you, peace." A new voice, a new face and this one Ned was very glad to say that he recognized as Ederon Estermont, the ancient Lord of Greenstone and Robert's Grandfather through his mother Cassana Estermont. Sitting next to him was his son Eldon, who was not a young man to be certain but was not so sold as his Father. "I grieve your young sons as readily as I mourn my sweet Cassana and her boys, Robert was young and full of passion and mayhaps we should have done more to stop him. But he was our Lord Paramount even so, we could not stop him from going if he wished it. And your sons followed him of their own free will, he commanded no man to go with him."

Oh of course he wouldn't, Robert would have torn down the walls of the Red Keep single handily if he had too. But Robert was inspiring, convincing. He was able to convince almost anyone of anything. He could have been a mummer, Jon had told Ned once after Robert had managed to convince one of the guards to let him out of the Eyrie for the night.

He would have made it sound like a grand adventure, and now all who followed him in it were dead.

"The dead are the dead." A man with deep blue eyes spoke and Ned thought he looked somewhat familiar. "We must look to the future for now, I've lost a son and two daughters my lady and lords. I understand the grief that you feel. But it must come later, the King has given us a decree and now we must ask ourselves how we answered it."

"I'm no traitor, we answer it and wash our hands of this blood business." One voice called out.

"Traitor maybe not, but a coward. And your hands will be stained with that babe's blood and don't you pretend any different!" Another voice called out and soon the hall was aflame once again as everyone within it fought to be heard and Ned watched as the noble lords devolved into bickering and petty insults and Ned knew if his Father were here he would never suffer for it.

But Father was not here, it was just him and he had to do something. Ned whistled as loud as he could but even the sharpness of the noise got caught up in the maelstrom of noise and he was left with desperate measure. He walked over to where a servant was standing, holding a pitcher of something he didn't bother to check what it was, before throwing it on to the ground.

The shattering of the glass brought the attention of the lords as the red wine spread out on to the stones. Ned cleared his throat. "I apologies for the interruption my lords, but I am afraid that I am lost as I have not heard this declaration from the King. What has he asked of you? What babe and what about their blood?"

"House Baratheon has been declared traitor." A younger man spoke, with fire red hair which reminded Ned uncomfortable of the Hand of the King's hair. "The blood line considered accursed. King Aerys demands that the line must be ended, he will suffer no traitors. All men of the Baratheon line must die, we have been commanded to send Lord Renly to King's Landing where he will face the King's justice."

For a moment Ned imagined Renly in front of the king, then he imagined Renly being tied to a pyre that was being lit and then he imagined Torrhen or Mors in his place and Ned's heart wrenched in rejection of the very notion. No, he would not let it happen. If he had to carry Renly all the way back North with him to keep him safe then that was what he would do but the King was not having him.

"The boy's just a young babe, and his grandmother was a Targaryen. If we sent him to the capital then the King might show mercy on him." A new voice spoke that, but Ned could hear the uncertainty and the doubt in their voice.

"Oh, aye. Cause clearly kin mattered to Aerys when he burned both of them alive, and as I hear it would not be the first time the King has had babes killed in front of him." The grey haired woman spoke again but after a moment her voice and her eyes softened somewhat. "There's been enough death my lords, my own babes are dead and the King has their bones. I would not forgive myself if I were to throw young Renly's to him as well. I will not do it."

"The boy is my grandson, any man who tries to do him harm will have to deal with me." Lord Estermont growled and while he did not speak, he tightened his grip on his wooden walking cane slightly while his son nodded grimly.

"We might as well be eunuchs like that twisted creature that the King has whispering in his ear instead of men if we were to consider such a thing." The sapphire eyed lord spoke from where he sat and about him Ned saw that several lords were nodding their heads.

"That's all well and good, but what are meant to do instead then?" The voice who had spoken for sending Renly away asked. "We all received a raven with the King's decree, are we all simply to pretend that every single one of those ravens got lost or shot down? We will be declared traitors, there is only one punishment for that. I wish Lord Renly know ill will, and I do not like to say it as you all do not want to hear it. But someone has to, we've spent enough blood all ready. Hand the boy over."

The murmuring began once again and Ned knew that he had to do something before it started out into another argument and so he thought as to what he should do, what Robert and Jon Arryn and his Father would have done if they were in his place and the most terrible idea popped into his head that was never going to work but it was all that he had. "My lords! My lords! I beg you, hear me!"

Well, he had their attention at the very least. "We have all of us heard tales of the madness that the King suffers from, babes burned alive for the simple crime of being hungry. Lords and Ladies being executed for simply telling a jest about the King. The High Septon of the Faith, burned alive in full view of court for simply trying to be a check to the King's power."

"Madness and greatness are two sides of the coin, they say. Well, we know which way this coin has landed. His son has inherited the same spore of madness, he kidnapped my sister and murdered my Father's sworn men to get her. What Robert did was foolish, but there was a noble reason behind it. To save the woman that he loved."

"I would bring your sons and your nephews and your brothers back in a moment if I could, but I cannot. I can only promise you justice, and the only way we can have that is with a new king."

"We have that king, yes, he is young. Yes, he will need to be raised and guided in order for him to become a great king. But he is the blood of the storm and the dragon. He can be the way we make the world better, he can be how we gain justice, he can be how we gain vengeance." Ned drew his sword and held it high. "King Renly! The Young king! The Storm King!"

Ned thought that he had made a fool of himself as a hush fell in the hall, he expected any moment now that the lords would insist that he leave and he would do so but he would still take Renly. He would not allow the boy's fate to be dependent on their mercy.

But just as he was about to lower the sword, Lord Estermont stood and shrugged off his son trying to help him. He walked on the middle of the hall and stared at Ned for a long moment before he raised his stick into the air. "King Renly!"

The grey haired woman followed after him, lifting her hand into the air. "King Renly!"

A woman and an old man showing such bravery shamed the rest of them and Eldon Estermont and the sapphire eyed lord added their voices to it and soon a dozen other lords took up the chant, then a dozen others and then almost every lord in the hall did the same.

Almost every lord, the red haired lord was glaring at Ned and a few others were whispering under the chant. Ned could see them but it would have to be something that was dealt with later. He could only hope he hadn't made a terrible mistake.

"King Renly!"

"King Renly!"

"King Renly!"

"The Storm King!"

"The Storm King!"

"The Storm King!"

End of Chapter Seventy-Four

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Right then, well that's another chapter done and dusted.

I think I will just leave this one to stand for itself if I am going to be honest, I hope you enjoyed reading it. If you did, please leave a follow and a favorite. Please, also consider leaving a review. Constructive Criticism is always welcome.

I'm also interested if anyone can guess who some of the lords, aside from Estermont, are from the small clues I gave you. A lot of them will be playing larger roles later on.

With a ton of love and well wishes,

DiscordantSymphony