Separated Pack
To Eddard Stark
Ned read the first line of the letter and immediately recognised his father's tight script. The letter had been sealed with the direwolf of House Stark, but the Maester's runner had claimed it to be a message sent from Moat Cailin.
Lya has disappeared.
Those three words alone made his heart freeze in his chest. His father had ever been a man of few words, gruff and direct in his approach, but this one time he would have appreciated more. Ned continued to read with bated breath.
Even as you read this I am riding for King's Landing. Your brother has been locked in the black cells, for accusing Prince Rhaegar of the abduction to the King's ears. I need you in Winterfell, with Ben. Our lords are preparing, should anything happen.
Your father and Lord of Winterfell, Rickard Stark.
For a few seconds nothing seemed to make sense. Lyanna gone, Brandon locked in a cell, and his father riding south in an attempt to fix things. Madness surely.
He had been preparing to ride for Riverrun and nearly ready to depart to see his brother wed to Catelyn Tully, and now everything was plunged into chaos.
"What is it, Ned?" Robert asked from next to him, breaking him from his thoughts.
"It is from my father. He calls me back to Winterfell," he answered absently and clutched the parchment tightly in his palm, his voice showing a calm he did not truly feel.
"What? He was riding for Riverrun himself, was he not?" Robert was understandably confused. They had been ready to leave the next day, for the Bloody Gate and then Riverrun. He raised a suggestive eyebrow, a broad, lecherous smile on his lips. "Surely you can go to the wedding, at least. See the sights. The best of the Riverlands, I hear."
Ned barely heard him, thoughts loud in his head. He needed to go, and quickly. Get his horse and ride. No, he shook his head. Gulltown, and a ship for White Harbour, that was the better and faster way north.
Standing from the bench they had been using Ned stopped himself.
This did not affect only him. He needed to find passage north, needed to tell Jon Arryn that he had to leave, that things had changed. But Robert deserved to know, too. He was Lyanna's betrothed, after all.
"Lyanna, she is missing."
Those words brought the storm to the surface. Robert had always been like that, as quick to laugh as he was to anger. Prone to be controlled by his emotions and especially his lusts. He was Baratheon to the bone, and the Lords of the Stormlands had earned their words.
Robert was on his feet too, then, the table they had been sitting at shoved sharply away in his haste, jostling the drink and food on top. It went entirely ignored, just like the rest of the mess created.
The crash silenced the hall, all the eyes of the men and women inside coming to rest on the two of them. They went ignored too.
"What happened?" Robert rumbled, quiet fury apparent in the set of his shoulders and the prominent frown creasing his heavy brow. He towered over Ned in the grips of his anger, never one to be shy about using his height against those not as tall.
Ned did not cower. He was already used to these reactions, had half expected that it would be the one now too, and did not think Robert had so little control of himself that he would actually act on his fury here.
"I know only what my father wrote me, and that is very little. Where and how anything happened, I cannot say."
Lyanna would have been on the way to Riverrun, likely far ahead of their father, with her own smaller party. Just like Brandon she had little patience for the snail's pace of large groups, especially when they were riding.
But that was so little information that it might as well be none at all. Certainly not enough for him or Robert to do anything about it alone. The Riverlands were not as expansive as the North or even the Reach, but even a hundred man would take years to search all of it for one girl.
"We are riding out," Robert said and made to walk away, his goal the stables at the Gates of the Moon.
"No, we are not." Ned stopped him before he took more than a single step. "This is rushing into the breach naked and blind. We know next to nothing."
Ned hated accepting that, but there was little choice to be had in the matter. He wished for a godswood in that moment, for the solitude and peace of his gods and their weirwoods, but there was none to be found here.
He spoke a silent prayer, nonetheless. That Lyanna would be safe and sound, and would be found soon.
"She is your sister, Ned!"
"And do you think I have forgotten that?" he replied, not giving an inch. Give Robert an opening to exploit and he would pursue it relentlessly, gaining momentum with every second. Stopping him early was always easiest. "I only understand our limitations. There will already be men searching for her. One or two more will make no difference."
Ned wasn't quite sure if he was trying to convince Robert or himself.
Robert grimaced and crossed his arms in front of his chest, obviously unhappy with that approach. "Fine. But if we learn anything I am riding out."
"You will have no arguments from me." Ned considered the mess Robert had made for a moment longer before turning away and walking from the hall, his goal Jon Arryn's solar.
Their foster father had taken his meal in his solar, to continue work on some final preparations for the party leaving towards the Riverlands and so that everything would be handled to have the Eyrie habitable shoulder winter truly have left this time.
The Gates of the Moon was a stout castle, only truly seeing much use during the winter, when conditions up at the Eyrie did not allow comfortable living. Still, there was room aplenty for the Arryn households of the Eyrie and the Gates, and those guests Jon Arryn had invited to accompany them to Riverrun, even if it was no Winterfell.
Ned missed his home in that moment.
He continued to walk the halls, Robert's steps heavy behind him, and greeted the men in sky blue cloaks standing guard in the halls with polite nods, in no mood for other conversation at the moment.
Ser Vardis Egen was leaving the solar with his squire, Andar Royce, just as Ned turned down the correct hallway.
The captain of Jon Arryn's household guard was usually a neutral man. Squared-away and even, as befit a man of his position, but right now there was a frown on his square face as he quietly answered a question for the younger man keeping step with him.
After giving him a respectful nod in greeting and finishing his quiet conversation Ser Vardis turned the other way and left with his squire in tow, to accomplish whatever task had been given to him by Jon Arryn.
The Arryn guard at the solar recognised him quickly, and was already knocking and announcing their presence before Ned had even opened his mouth to say anything.
A quiet "Come." echoed from behind the door, and the man on duty opened the door for him and the uncharacteristically quiet Robert.
Jon Arryn was seated behind a large desk littered with papers of many sizes, a silver cup carved with falcons and other birds of prey placed within arm's reach, and a platter of half-eaten food forgotten where it precariously balanced near the edge.
"Ned, Robert. It is good you came," he said, looking up from whatever matter he had been pouring over and spared them a small, quiet smile as they entered the solar.
Smoothing out the raven scroll from his father Ned stepped close and placed it on the table. He wondered at how to address what he had learned. If he waited for too long Robert would grow impatient. "My lord father calls me back to Winterfell."
"Because he rides for King's Landing to negotiate your brother's release from a black cell," Jon Arryn said, a tired set to his shoulders as he motioned for another rolled up piece of parchment in front of him. "I am already aware. I have received a raven from the capital myself."
Robert sputtered and Ned suddenly realised that he had not shared the entire contents of the scroll with him. "A black cell? What is this madness?"
"It seems that King Aerys is determined to prove himself worthy of the whispers about him," Jon Arryn said, resigned, and raised a hand to massage his brow. "Brandon accused Prince Rhaegar of kidnapping his sister and called for the Prince to face justice at his hand. We must all the deal with the consequences now. Brandon was not alone when he arrived at the Red Keep. Elbert was with him, as were others."
Elbert was the heir to House Arryn and the Vale, and Jon Arryn's nephew. There had been talk of wedding him to Hoster Tully's younger daughter Lysa shortly after Brandon's own marriage would happen, and he had spent much time in the Riverlands with Brandon in pursuit of making that eventual arrangement more agreeable for everyone.
Ned did not need convincing to believe Jon's words about his brother.
Brandon had always been like that, wild and stubborn and quick to act, even when they had been only children playing and training in Winterfell. Wolf blood, his father had always said with fondness and trepidation both, when Brandon and then Lyanna had stumbled into trouble or another mischief again and again and again.
"He truly is mad then," Robert said, hands fisted at his sides. But whether he meant the King or the Prince, Ned could not say. "Humiliation, kidnapping, imprisonment. Why should we keep any peace?"
"Calm, Robert. Elbert has not been thrown in a cell, and neither have the others. That honour only Brandon himself earned. They are guests in the Red Keep, though not of their own choosing. Words of war too often become actions of war when other means can be used to accomplish your goals."
"You mean to simply allow this? And do nothing?" Robert cried, shocked.
"He did not say that, Robert," Ned put in evenly, able to regard the complete situation with a certain numbed calm. Every time he let the facts as he knew them go through his head again another wrinkle revealed itself, where it joined the large number of things he simply did not know right now.
Jon nodded at him in agreement before focusing on Robert again. "We do not know the Prince to be guilty of anything."
"Tell me this: Who else?" Robert did not yield, blue eyes dark with fury. "I have not forgotten Harrenhal."
"I did not think you had, but the situation remains as it is. Lord Rickard will reach King's Landing in no more than a moon's turn, and I have commanded Ser Vardis to assemble a party of my own. Let us see the men in the Red Keep to safety before anything escalates," Jon Arryn laid out calmly, long since used to the proper way of handling Robert. "Until then we might attempt to find out the truth of things for ourselves."
Any actions fuelled by anger and emotion undercut for now Jon turned his eyes toward him.
"If your father calls you north then I would not dally, Ned. There will be ships in Gulltown bound for White Harbour. I will send a message to Lord Grafton. If needs be he will keep a ship back until you arrive, so that your passage north is certain."
Ned was touched, and immensely grateful. This was more than would have been expected of anyone in this situation. He inclined his head, aware that any disapproval, by Lord Grafton or the bothered captain, would now be aimed at the Lord of the Vale and not him. "Thank you."
"It is only right." Jon Arryn waved him off, a fatherly smile on his face. "Martyn and Rolf will accompany you on the way to Gulltown. They won't take long to prepare, so you may leave as soon as you wish."
There was little chance of anything untoward happening on the way, but it meant he would have some company at least. Even if the mountain clansmen might have used the opportunity to attack a small group, they never ventured so deeply into the lowlands of the Vale, where they would be easy pickings for any lord finding them on their lands.
They talked of additional matters for some time after that. Ravens to Riverrun, Seaguard, and Runestone. Ravens to Dragonstone. Robert going to the Bloody Gate. Sending messages south to Storm's End, so that any matters of the Stormlands might reach their Lord Paramount swiftly, though Robert only grumbled at being reminded of his duties and position.
Ned left the Gates of the Moon with his two companions the following morning, spurring his horse to make the trip pass as swiftly as possible.
"Eddard Stark?" The leader of the group of mounted men awaiting them at the city gates asked. At his nod the man beckoned for the three of them to follow. They were six men in total, all ahorse and with swords sheathed at their belts. "I was sent to bring you to Lord Grafton. He would ask a word before your ship leaves port."
"Lead the way," Ned answered after a moment of thought, already half expecting that his departure from the Vale would not take place the very moment after he arrived in the city.
Wheeling their horses around the group of household guards in Grafton colours spurred their horses and rode on, escorting them through the cobbled streets of Gulltown and towards the keep on a small hill on the western side of the bay.
Gulltown was the only true city in the Vale and the main way for wares to be brought in from the outside. Ships from north, east, and south all passed through the mouth of the bay and the bristling lines of scorpions to find a place at the docks.
Their company did not take long to cut through the streets, people quickly making space for the mounted men in the colours of House Grafton. They were surely well adjusted to the guardsmen, knights, and other men-at-arms, the protection of the large settlement necessitating a significant number of men to guard and keep order even in times of peace.
Even though their lands outside of Gulltown were largely insignificant, House Grafton could command many men in war, far more comparable to the stronger bannermen of House Arryn than those with similarly sized domains.
Not long after, they ascended the small hill and entered a small courtyard beyond the castle walls where everyone dismounted, stablehands already waiting to lead the horses away. Two other young boys moved toward the horses of Ned and his two Arryn companions, and after some quick instruction began moving his belongings from the saddlebags into a nearby sea chest.
The Gulltown men that had accompanied them left the courtyard towards the city proper again, their ordered task accomplished. Ned watched their backs for a few moments, as they rode past the banners of Houses Grafton and Arryn.
Marq Grafton, Lord of Gulltown, already waited at the entrance of the actual keep, clad in red and black with the Grafton beacon tower stitched in gold over his heart. He was a broad as an ox with a gruff bearded face. Next to him stood a younger man, lanky and sharp-featured, who was most likely his squire Lyn, second son of the Lord of House Corbray.
"Welcome to my city, Lord Eddard," Lord Grafton said gruffly, once Ned had stepped closer, his voice loud and deep in the late morning air.
"Thank you for receiving me, Lord Grafton," Ned answered, inclining his head, and gestured to the two others with him. "These are Martyn and Rolf, House Arryn men who accompanied me here."
The Lord of House Grafton turned his head and called for a nearby servant. "See to it that these two have food and drink, and a bed for the night."
Nodding, the serving man left, Martyn and Rolf following not far behind him. It was only noon, but they had been riding for near ten days, and Ned would have like the comforts of his own bed as well. But he felt compelled to continue, to reach Winterfell as quickly as he could.
That settled Lord Grafton turned to walk into his home, his squire with him, clearly expecting to be followed inside.
Ned did, passing through the wide doors and into the round keep. The castle itself was not particularly large, but the high ceilings made it seem more roomy than it truly was, and allowed enough space for the long tapestries hung in the halls.
The first were the story of Gulltown, from its origin under the rule of House Shett to the Andal invasion and the eventual subjugation under the first King of Mountain and Vale, Artys Arryn.
Others followed, of the different wars that had made Gulltown either a battlefield or an important rally point. One, Ned knew very well. The War across the Water had been fought against the Starks, though his own family's records usually depicted the story differently.
Finally, came the Conquest. The naval battle fought near Gulltown's waters had not ended in a victory for the Targaryen fleet, but dragons had forced the Vale to submit just like every other Kingdom.
Ned thought the depictions of royal progresses to the city looked somewhat out of place in the line-up of history. They were depictions of Targaryen glory, more than they had any true connection to House Grafton.
They reached the solar they had been walking towards after ascending a spiralling staircase at the end of a long straight hallway, doors leading off to the sides between the different historical wall hangings.
Marq Grafton seated himself in a comfortable, high-backed chair and gestured for Ned to join him.
"Leave us, lad," the Lord of Gulltown said gruffly, though not unkind. Ned saw the sharp-tongued retort on Lyn Corbray's handsome features, but at his host's glower he kept his lips sealed and stalked from the room, the heavy door closing behind him.
"No respect, that one, but he is a wonder with a sword." Marq Grafton shook his head. "I do not intend to keep you for long. There is a ship at the docks soon to depart for White Harbour. The captain has my order to wait for you before casting off."
"You have my gratitude," Ned said, dipping his head into a small bow. He was, truly.
"It was what Lord Arryn commanded of me," Lord Grafton interjected, correcting, a sharp look under his heavy brow. One large hand reached up to his breast, where Ned suddenly noticed the small red and black ornament hidden among the colours of the man's doublet. Upon closer inspection it was shaped to look like a dragon's tail.
"It makes a man wonder, hearing of such foolishness. Youth and anger may make any man act unwisely, but even those have their limits. That?" He shook his head. "One might call it treason, not foolishness."
Ned narrowed his eyes, suddenly tense, and hard at work trying to suppress the instinct to snap. Even he had his limits.
But he controlled himself in the end, even if he knew Brandon would not have.
"One might call disrespect dishonour and insult, and kidnapping seems to me a certain kind of treason as well." Ned did not know what had truly happened, but he remembered Harrenhal aswell. The conclusion Brandon had arrived at was not so distant as to be unthinkable, even if he did not truly believe it with only the information he had available to him.
Marq Grafton stayed silent for a time, one thick finger running over the small ornament. Then he dropped his hand to his side again. "One might indeed. Leave my keep and city, Lord Eddard, before I find myself acting in foolishness as well. Your belongings are waiting for you at the harbour."
Ned stood, the dismissal clear from the Lord of Gulltown. He left the solar and then the keep in short order, before heading for the harbour. A servant in Grafton colours hailed him from one of the many docks, a familiar sea chest at his feet.
Once he had reached the correct dock the servant left with a quick bow.
The Precious Gift looked as formidable as any ship Ned had ever seen in White Harbour or any other port, the three large purple sails marking the galleas as Braavosi.
Sailors and dockworkers were finishing the final preparations to cast off, with the first mate keeping a careful eye on the whole process, so that nothing was missing or forgotten. The communication between them was happening in the tongue of Braavos, though Ned knew that at least some of the crew was nearly guaranteed to be capable of speaking the common tongue of Westeros as well.
The merchant ships from the mightiest of the Free Cities were a common sight in the ports of the North, always eager to fill their holds with timber to bring back home and sell at the exorbitant prices they could demand in Braavos, where trees were rare and precious.
"You are the Lord Stark?" one of the sailors near him asked after spotting him. He was tall and lanky, with a horizontal scar across his nose and one cheek, the lighter skin standing out against the rest of his heavily tanned complexion.
"Yes, I am." The Braavosi came over and shouldered the sea chest Ned had filled with his belongings before beckoning for him to follow him onboard. Before Ned took his final step he stopped and looked back at the lands of the Vale.
He did not know what exactly he had just avoided, but it seemed to him that further caution would be his friend until the business in King's Landing was dealt with.
It would be some time yet before they would leave the coast of the Vale behind them and longer yet until he would return, but he still said goodbye in the confines of his own mind.
Winterfell rose in the distance and Ned wished that he would have been returning under happier circumstances. It was good to be back home, nonetheless, the massive walls filling him with a sense of comfort despite the situation.
He spurred his horse, to let the last hundred yards pass as quickly as possible. It had been too long, as it was every time he had been gone from here. Even after the many years he had spent in the Vale, this was his heart's home in the end.
With spring returning for a second time the winter town was not nearly as packed as it would have been only a moon ago, only one house in four still seeing use. Ned and his companions from nearby Cerwyn passed through the rows of simple houses, until they reached the market square, with Winterfell's main gate directly behind.
The snarling grey direwolf on white greeted him on both sides of the large defensive structure, as did the sight of two guards in mail and the colours of his House. Two guards he did not recognise.
Still, they admitted him into the castle without issue, the rider he had sent ahead while exchanging horses at Castle Cerwyn announcing his arrival some time ago. Ned did not recognise most of the men training at sword or spear in the different yards, and he wondered just how many his father had taken south.
It seemed near all the usual men were missing. His father's best and most trusted. And there were clearly more than a hundred men in the yards not far into their training under Ser Rodrik.
Ned dismounted near the stables, eyes keeping track of the drills the men were running through, and a young stableboy ran over to lead his tired horse away and see that it was taken care of properly.
"Ned!" a familiar voice called, relieved and happy. He turned in the direction of the call, a smile coming over his face at the sight of Benjen hurrying towards him while trying to look like he wasn't doing so, the old Maester following further behind at a more sedate pace.
Ned met his brother halfway, and embraced him to quell the sudden swell of worry for his other siblings, a gesture Ben returned just as fiercely. Brandon had always been taller than him, but Ben's head still only came up to his chin. "It is good to see you, Ben."
They could only ignore the situation they found themselves in for so long, however. Separating from Benjen Ned took another look around, and with a deep breath focused on the important things. His father had not called him north for leisure.
A few other short greetings followed, for men he knew and for those he would come to learn in the next days, but then he turned towards his brother again.
"Let's get inside. You need to tell me everything you know. Father's letter did not say much."
The poured over the message from King's Landing and everything that had happened for some time. Yet it was not until some time later, when all the others they had taken counsel or questions from had left, that a change seemed to come over his brother.
Ben looked lost, and younger than his fourteen years. It had been hidden beneath the surface before, but now there was guilt in his eyes and an unseen weight on his shoulders.
"What is it, Ben?" Ned asked, the change in mood more than apparent on his brother's usually cheerful face. They were seated in their father's solar, though he felt out of place here. This room was not for him or Ben. It was for their father and eventually Brandon.
Ben worried his lower lip between his teeth, blue-grey eyes searching his face.
"I didn't think she would really do it," he said quietly, as if he was admitting to some heinous crime, not truly explaining anything.
Ned felt a small hole in his belly, a hole that widened with every second. No. Surely not.
"Who? And do what, Ben? What wouldn't she do? What are you talking about?" he said, a plea in his voice. Let it not be so.
"Lyanna, she–" Ben choked on the words, confirming his worries. "When, when Robert wrote some moons back, she said she would run away."
"But it was just a stupid jape!" he insisted desperately. "We had snuck some wine before that and she didn't speak of it again afterwards. I-I didn't think she meant it."
"Gods," Ned exhaled, hands cradling his head. It had been his idea to make Robert write a message after Harrenhal, but his friend had held off on the matter for some time.
Ned was numb, thoughts swirling in his head. Another horror sparked in his mind, and he was almost scared to ask. "Did you tell father?"
"When the ravens came," Ben admitted miserably. There would be punishments for him and Lyanna both, significant ones. Their father was fair, but he had seldom been called merciful.
'Gods,' Ned repeated in his mind. What a great mess this all was.
They stewed in dark silence, Ned's thoughts loud in his head. His father would handle the King and Brandon. He could only hope that Lyanna would be found soon, or come to her senses and reveal herself of her own accord.
A few days later the ravens came, the words they carried as black as their wings.
I hope you enjoyed chapter 33. I barely got this finished in time, and have only just started working on 34. I am hopeful that I will get that one done more quickly than I did this one, but we will have to see.
I wanted to have a PoV on the other side of the conflict, if you will, and ended up deciding on Ned. I realise that many people are only here for Naruto and his shenanigans but we'll get back to those in the next one.
Obviously these are younger versions of the characters in the books, but I tried to stay true to their cores while still making them believably younger and less experienced, or scarred I suppose.
It seems pretty weird to me that Ned was just hanging around in the Vale while Brandon is imprisoned and Lyanna goes missing. Benjen is left behind in Winterfell when Rickard goes to King's Landing, but why not call for Ned? Benjen is fourteen and it is a family crisis.
The Bran line in the show saying that Robert's Rebellion was "based on a lie" is one of the most disrespectful things I have ever witnessed, and the Tyrion line on the topic is somehow even worse. Rickard and Brandon are murdered, as are the other companions Brandon took with him (except for Ethan) and the two hundred soldiers Rickard brought. All of that done, Aerys calls for Ned and Robert's heads. That shit has nothing at all to do with Lyanna anymore. Jon Arryn rises in rebellion because he won't execute his foster sons for a clearly mad monarch, and because his heir was just murdered too, and not because Lyanna doesn't love Robert.
The books aren't clear on whether Marq Grafton was Lord of Gulltown before the Rebellion or if he was just a prominent man from the House. I made him the Lord here. Lyn Corbray wields Lady Forlorn in the books, but he only gets her after the Trident when his father is heavily wounded and then bequeathes the sword to him upon his death.
Once again, GRRM's world is huge. Winterfell to King's Landing is more than 2000 miles. 50 miles per day is a strong pace for a contingent of riders, so Rickard takesa little more than a month to get South. In AGOT the King's party takes like three months to make it back.
Because Ned is in the North sooner the timeline of the Rebellion will be accelerated significantly. The Grafton scene is inspired by the interaction with Lord Borrel when Ned is on Sweetsister before he gets a ship for White Harbour, and this obviously doesn't happen here.
It has not been resolved whether Benjen knew about Lyanna and Jon Snow and all that, but I imagine he would have, if only because Ned told him after the Rebellion. Benjen leaves for the Night's Watch right after.
Lyanna is certainly less culpable for the situation than Rhaegar, on account of being fifteen, but she has some responsibility as well.
Whether Benjen's words mean that Rhaegar was just convenient for Lyanna or that she just didn't tell her brother everything I won't say for now. Everyone can make up their own mind on that.
As always, thanks for reading and reviewing. Until next time.