Ned VIII
He watched from his window as Alyn led twenty-nine more of his men in their silver armor and white cloaks out of the Red Keep, where they marched behind a column of eighty Gold Cloaks. At the head of the column were the two men of Lord Lolliston on horseback. Combined with the seventy men of the house guard of Lord Lolliston, plus whatever smallfolk the man had armed, that should be more than enough to cow Tyrion Lannister into not attacking when his brother was moved.
"My lord," Jory said, approaching him. "My apologies for not noticing them earlier but you had two messages from Winterfell sitting on your desk in the Hand's solar."
Ned took the two pieces of folded parchment with a frown. Ever since he had awoken everything meant for him had been brought down to this room he occupied at the bottom of the Tower of the Hand, and that included any ravens he had received. These letters must have arrived sometime while he was still unconscious, but there was no telling when exactly they arrived. Opening the first one, he hoped they were nothing urgent.
Robb was letting him know of some important decisions he had made as the Stark in Winterfell. He had lent the Karstarks 3000 gold to build a port at the mouth of the Grey, which would make it the second port in the north, third if you count the one controlled by the Night's Watch at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. It was a good way to increase trade not only for the Karstarks, but also the Umbers, with the Last Road under construction between the two, and the Boltons, who were closer to Karhold than they were White Harbor.
Robb had gotten Wyman Manderly to build and man two longships for House Mormont as added security, and had done so by granting the White Tower, a keep that had sat abandoned for fifty years, to Lord Manderly's second son, Ser Wendel. Out of all the abandoned keeps in the North, and there were dozens, White Tower was the most recent one abandoned. The old noble house, House Glass, had gone extinct when Lord Glass, his wife, and his only child had all died of the pox eighteen years before Ned was born.
It looked like Robb had taken to heart his talks with him about doing what they could to strengthen the North. Between rebuilding the First Keep, expanding the glass gardens, and now this, Ned was confident his son would be a strong leader for the North.
He opened up the second letter and found that this one must have been older than the first. The first part of it spoke of what his highest vassals brought to Robb during the Harvest Feast. That both the Mormonts and the Umbers spoke of increasing wildling raids had him worried. He had so far sent almost one hundred and fifty men to the Wall, along with armor and swords. In the letter his son said that he had offered silver to the family of any man who took the black, which would send even more to help man the walls, but he wondered if it would be enough. Benjen had told him that the Night's Watch had rumors of a so-called King-Beyond-the-Wall. It was likely this wildling king that was the cause of the increase in raids. The wildlings had a pattern where every few hundred years they would unite behind a singular warlord and would grow bold in their attempts to cross the Wall to raid the north, and then the Starks would lead an army beyond the Wall and send the once united wildlings scattering to the winds. It looked like history was repeating itself again.
The second part of the letter brought a smile to his face.
"Jory, find Sansa and bring her here, I have news to tell her."
While Ned waited for Jory to find his daughter, he wheeled himself over to the desk in the room. The wheeled chair he sat in was meant to be pushed but Ned had found if he used enough strength he could rotate the wheels and push himself forward or backwards as needed, even turning in one direction or another, though it was tiring and caused his hands to cramp.
At his desk he picked up The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children by Grand Maester Malleon and began flipping through the pages again. Why had Jon Arryn requested this book and had it in his possessions when he passed? He had browsed through it twice already but nothing had really jumped out at him. Perhaps he wasn't looking at the right thing?
Ned flipped to the pages of the Starks and saw the descriptions of his ancestors. Many of them had dark brown or black hair with gray or brown eyes. Some, like most of his own children, took the coloring of their southern mothers and there were a few with blond or red hair, as well as blue, green, and hazel eyes.
He went backwards in the book, to go to the pages for House Arryn, but found himself stopping upon the pages dedicated to the Baratheons instead. As Ned flipped through those pages he noticed they had a lot less variance in their children. In fact, he wasn't able to see any variance for centuries, as all of the children, male and female, had been born with black hair and blue eyes; it mattered not who the mother was. Even Robert's children all shared the traits, Ned thought as he recalled the bastards he had seen; the girl in the Vale when they were teens, and Barra and Gendry in King's Landing.
But wait, for not all of Robert's children shared the look. Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen were all blond haired and green eyed like their mother. Ned flipped back through the pages and double checked every instance of a Baratheon man marrying a Lannister woman. All of the offspring were born black of hair and blue of eyes, all of them except three.
"They aren't Robert's children," Ned whispered in shock, the realization dawning on him. That was what Jon Arryn had found out. That was what had gotten the man murdered. And it made sense why Cersei would want him dead.
"My lord?"
Ned looked up to see Jory had arrived with Sansa, and both were looking at him with concerned faces. He closed the book in his hands and placed it back on the desk. He maneuvered the wheeled chair so he was fully facing his daughter and did his best to suppress his feelings at what he had just discovered.
"We received some wonderful news from Winterfell," Ned said, forcing a smile on his face. It had been wonderful news but it was now shadowed by the dark secret he had just learned. "I am to be a grandfather, and you are to be an aunt; Wynafryd is pregnant."
Sansa squealed in excitement. "Oh how wonderful! How far along is she, did they say?"
"Maester Luwin believed a little over three months, closer to four now since this was sent shortly after the Harvest Feast."
Sansa started going off about being an aunt and the clothes she would make for her niece or nephew. However, Ned found himself unable to focus on what she was saying.
The heir to the throne wasn't the King's son, and neither were the other two. Ned drew to his mind the three royal children and thought to himself that not only did none of them have the black hair and blue eyes of the Baratheon line, but none of them even looked like Robert. Most of Ned's kids might take after their mother in their coloring but they at least had parts of him in them; Robb had his long face and mouth, Sansa had his nose and mouth, Bran was said to look like Ned when he was a child, just with the thick auburn hair and blue eyes of a Tully, and while still little more than a toddler Rickon appeared to have the same nose, ears, and eye shape as Ned.
How had he not noticed the lack of resemblance between the King and his supposed children before? Robert was going to kill Cersei when he found out, that was certain. The man might even kill Joffrey in his anger, though Ned would do his best to make sure that didn't happen, much as he disliked the haughty teen. He was grateful Myrcella and Tommen were being fostered somewhere else as it would spare them the King's anger.
"Father?"
He blinked and looked at his daughter who looked hurt that he wasn't paying attention to a word she was saying. He forced the smile back on his face and cupped his daughter's face in his hand. She was thirteen and turning into a beautiful woman. She would be the next of his children married off, and in several years might be a mother of her own.
"I'm sorry," Ned said. "I was just thinking that perhaps it is best to send you back to Winterfell."
"Have I done something wrong?" she asked, looking at him with deep blue eyes that reminded him so much of Catelyn.
Ned knew his daughter loved being at King's Landing; she loved the knights and the fashion and the gossip. But knowing what he now knew, he feared for her safety. To be fair he feared for his own safety as well, but his life paled in comparison to that of his children. He would endure a thousand dangers as long as she was safe.
"Not at all, but you have been away from home for over a year now, and you are soon to be an aunt. Go home to be with your family and see your niece or nephew born, and then if you wish to come back, you can join me again."
She gave a slight nod and he dropped his hand from her face. "You'll be going on the next ship heading north, you and Jeyne. Go tell your friend, and then go to your room and pack."
As Sansa left, Jory closed the door behind her and gave Ned a look.
"What is it my lord? Something happened in the time it took for me to find your daughter."
Ned pointed at the book by Maester Malleon. "Open that book and go to the pages on the Baratheons, and tell me what you notice about all those born to House Baratheon."
Jory picked up the book and flipped through the pages as instructed. When he got to the Baratheons he took his time, reading over the descriptions of them. It took him several minutes before he pulled his eyes away from the book and gave Ned a confused look.
"I don't understand."
"What does it say is the hair and eye color of every Baratheon born in the last two centuries?"
Jory glanced briefly down at the book again. "Black hair and blue eyes."
"Like the two bastards of Robert's we saw?"
"Aye, both of them had black hair and blue eyes like the King."
"And what are the hair and eye colors of the crowned princes and princess?"
"Blond hair and -" Jory's eyes widened, "- green eyes. Are you suggesting what I think you are?"
"The King's royal children are not his. They look nothing like their father. The only one they resemble is their mother." Ned's own eyes widened as he made another connection. "Their mother and their uncle the Kingslayer."
"Not just adultery but incest?" Jory asked, his face taking on a queasy look. "I can not fathom such a thing. Perhaps the real father just has weak seed?"
Ned thought it possible but unlikely. No, on top of his attack on Ned, the Kingslayer had slept with the Queen, his own sister, behind the King's back and sired the children the King called his own.
"Jory, what the Queen has done is treason. The knowledge of which has gotten Jon Arryn killed. Send a man to the docks and find me a ship heading north that leaves tomorrow. I don't care if they aren't going to White Harbor, I'll pay them enough to do so. Assign twenty of the men as Sansa's personal guard, give Harwin the command. They are to stay with her at all times until she is safely back in Winterfell."
"I will see to it," Jory said.
As the head of his guards left the room, Ned sat there with his thoughts. Robert likely already knew this information, having been told by Stannis who had been with Jon as he came to the same conclusion Ned just did. He wondered how Robert had reacted. No doubt there was rage. Probably destroying things in his anger. Then there would be the wine; Robert drank it by the gallon when he was angry. He wondered if Dragonstone had the stock to keep up with Robert's thirst.
If the King demanded Ned to act before the man arrived back from Dragonstone, Ned wondered if he would have difficulty doing so. He had sent thirty of his men to bring Jaime Lannister to King's Landing, and would be sending another twenty home with Sansa. Taking into account the five that had been killed, that left him with forty-five guards. Ser Jacelyn Bywater was a loyal man, and Ned knew he would be able to count on the man and a good chunk of the Gold Cloaks who had been promoted or given a spot in the City Watch due to Ned's purge of corruption.
He suspected not all of the City Watch would be loyal to Bywater. Likely there would be some who were loyal to others like the Queen and Littlefinger, whose influence in King's Landing stretched farther and dug in deeper than Ned's own. The Lannister men were outside of the Red Keep and would likely be too late to react to the arrest of Cersei. That left the three members of the Kingsguard still in the capital - Barristan, Greenfield, and Moore. Out of them Ned knew he could count on Ser Barristan and that was enough for him.
Unfortunately for Ned, he wasn't left to his thoughts for long. A teenage servant stood at the door, one of those who worked in the rookery. He recognized the servant from all the messages the lad had dropped off throughout his time as Hand.
"Raven from Dragonstone m'lord."
It seemed his thoughts had summoned word from the King.
"Bring it here," Ned said, waving the teen into the room.
Another message for him to read. The last two had brought good news. He wondered what this one would bring. What news was Robert sharing, or orders was the King issuing? If Ned was a betting man he'd guess it would be the seizing of the Queen and Crowned Prince.
Ned unfolded the message and read the words with growing horror. He looked at the servant, who stood there staring at him with raised eyebrows.
"Get Ser Barristan here at once," Ned barked.
The servant scrambled from the room. Ned pinched the bridge of his nose and took deep breaths.
He felt like getting up and pacing but he still couldn't put any weight on his leg. He would likely be in the wheeled chair for another few weeks. Instead he just sat there, as it was all he could do, flexing his fingers as he took in one deep breath after another. He had no idea how long he sat there until Ser Barristan walked into the room.
"My lord Hand, you summoned me?"
Ned held out the message he had received from Dragonstone. Ser Barristan's face took on a perplexed look as he read it.
"How can that be? It takes a little over a day, maybe three tops if the winds are unfavorable. It's been a week."
"I don't know, ser. All I know is that the King's ship hasn't made it to Dragonstone."
Sansa wasn't able to head back home the next day or for several days after, because every ship in port was commanded to search every inch of Blackwater Bay until the King's ship was found. Ravens were sent to every coastal town and keep along the bay to see if any of them had seen anything. The Lady Lyanna was a galley, a massive ship with a seasoned crew of sailors, and the skies were calm. There was no way it would run aground on a shore; not unless everyone on the ship was drunk, which he wouldn't have been shocked to hear given how much Robert liked drinking with others. Hell, Ned wouldn't put it past Robert to tell the boat's captain to sail past Dragonstone to the pleasure houses of Lys, so he could drink and whore himself to death and leave Ned behind to deal with the entire mess that was the Seven Kingdoms.
As if the King missing wasn't bad enough, Ned had received more ill news. Lord Lolliston's keep was under siege by Lannister men. Those he had sent to bring the Kingslayer to King's Landing for justice had been killed by the Mountain, including thirty of his own men. Tywin Lannister had raised two hosts that were marching on the Riverlands. Edmure Tully was calling his own banners. War was about to erupt in Westeros and the King was not around to put a stop to it.
And to top it all off a raven from Winterfell let him know that Robb was calling the banners as well to march to his uncle's aid. It would take four months before Robb left the North with his host, and a lot could happen in that time, but the news only made the entire situation worse for Ned. He wanted to tell his son to stop with such foolishness, but Ned knew that if he had been in the North hearing the news of the Lannisters invading the Riverlands, he would have called the banners as well. How could he in good conscience chastise his son for making the same decisions he would have?
He kept the information of the North gathering an army to himself. Like all of his letters from home, the seal hadn't been broken so he knew no one was reading his messages. Let the rest of the realm find out about the North marching to war on their own. The less time Tywin Lannister had to react to the approaching northmen meant a better chance for Robb.
Speaking of Tywin Lannister, he wrote a letter demanding the man disband his armies at once or become a wanted man like his son. He had ravens sent to the nearby Crownland lordly houses - Rosby, Hayford, Harte, and Rykker - as well as the knightly houses near King's Landing that were sworn directly to the Crown - Stokeworth, Chelsted, Largent, and Mallery - and told them to gather their men.
Combined, those houses should be able to rally close to six thousand men. Add in a thousand Gold Cloaks, plus another several hundred hedge knights and fighting men Ned would have Jacelyn Bywater recruit amongst the population of King's Landing, and he'd have a force close to seven thousand five hundred within a few weeks.
Lord Shawney was gathering the forces of the southern Riverlands on the eastern shore of the Blackwater Rush, where the two tributaries that converge to form the Blackwater meet. The last message from Lord Shawney said he had about four thousand men so far and was expecting to double that number in a few weeks, for a total of eight thousand.
Ned would have the two forces approach the Tower of the Rush at the same time, one from the north and one from the east. The movement of the two forces would need to be coordinated by riders that would travel between them as they marched. It was risky, but he knew that if Tywin Lannister got to the Tower of the Rush unopposed, the man would storm the keep and free his son. He knew so because that is what Ned would do if he was in the Lion's shoes.
Ned needed to get a sizable army into the field as quickly as possible. Which meant he didn't have time to wait for the farther Crownland houses to gather. Or to wait for Renly to call the Stormland banners. Or to get some type of response from Stannis outside of his singular message that the expected arrival of the King had never happened.
The only issue was that Ned himself couldn't lead the force of Crownlanders. He would feel a lot better if he wasn't putting the entire fate of this plan in the hands of another. Lord Renfred Rykker had fought on the side of the Mad King but as far as Ned knew, he was too young and inexperienced to lead any of the Targaryen forces. He had written his instructions down clearly, so hopefully Lord Renfred wouldn't screw it up.
