The usually calm and honorable Eddard Stark was furious from the news Maester Luwin provided him that morning. Despite having little evidence to corroborate the claims of the assassins, someone had orchestrated the deaths of the entire Bolton family. The only people who really knew who was behind the attack on his family were all either in Winterfell or on their way to Sea Dragon Point. Ned didn't know how Percy could even pull it off, especially so quickly, but the Lord of the North knew in his gut Percy was somehow behind this.
"Are you sure it has to be Percy? Ned think, the man has only been loyal to our family. What are you going to do when you find him? Not to mention how the common people love him." Catelyn was trying to talk some sense into Eddard.
"I don't know Catelyn. We in the North represent honor and loyalty by killing the Boltons he has broken both." Eddard looked conflicted, for if he let Percy go unpunished, then when the truth is eventually revealed of who was behind the attack on the Starks, it would look like either Eddard or someone he was close to sending assassins in retaliation. No other northern lords have a love for the lords of Dreadfort, but many think along the same lines as him and will take offense to the dishonorable attack.
"Either way, you need to answer the challenge Percy has given you. When you ordered him not to retaliate against the Boltons, he became honor-bound as one of your vassal lords and a bannerman to listen. Though I don't think punishing Percy is the right call either." Maester Luwin almost had a midlife crisis when Percy entered his life because he had always thought there was no such thing as magic. There are entire lectures in Oldtown about the absurdity of the notion, not to mention that the obsidian candles didn't so much flicker. Then, a literal manifestation of just how wrong those claims were was strutted into his life. Luwin quickly took a liking to the man anyway due to his unusual knowledge about the sciences, math, and other advanced knowledge only found in the Maester guild. When discussing the stars or tides, Percy looked as if he already knew the information. Yet, the man had no further interest in any subject Luwin approached.
"Then what would you have me do? It's only a matter of time before Robert or John Arryn sends a raven asking for answers." Eddard knew there probably wasn't much he could do to Percy, though he had a feeling if he asked, Percy would step down.
"We march to Sea Dragon Point, and I'll decide what to do with Percy when I get there." Eddard sighed as he made his decision, partly regretting his choice to follow the man who turned out to be as unpredictable as he was wild. Ned didn't know anything about demigods so he had no idea if this behavior was normal or just unique to the sea prince.
"What of the inheritance of the Dreadfort. Roose Bolton didn't have any heirs to pass it onto." Catelyn asked her husband nervously, not entirely wanting to know the answer.
"Ramsey Snow, he may not be a Bolton, but without any other suitable heirs to take up the mantle, he will have to be legitimized." Even Eddard looked weary when making that decision.
"Eddard, you can't be serious. The rumors if believed to be true…" Before Maester Luwin could finish his sentence, Eddard cut him off: "If we passed judgment biased off of rumors, we would be riding to Sea Dragons Point for Percy's head."
General Lionfish was not having a good day or a couple of months, for he was locked into a terrible battle with the deep ones who suddenly attacked from their trench with a viciousness that hadn't been seen in centuries. The low-level light is made worse by all the blood permeating the waters around the battle. Despite Lionfish's superior numerical advantage and better weapons, the deep ones came out from the trench in mass. They knew how to fight in low light better than their shallower water counterparts. Something had pressured them into making a rash decision to try their luck at escaping the infernal pit they had been trapped in for so many years.
"Tooth formation! Line up the spear charge! Get the sword masters in formation after them!" Hundreds of Merfolk in all colors swarmed the entrance of the trench, a fissure a mile wide and stretched for ten miles in either direction. They began to push back the creatures that looked like a messed up cross between deep sea fish and humans with wet, slimy, scaly skin covering their entire bodies with all four limbs webbed. Many have bioluminescence, though turned off to help better hide themselves in the dark. For now, the massive bubble of thousands of Merfolk began to force the tide of deep ones back into the trench. One of the soldiers swam up to General Lionfish as fast as his smaller fins could carry him with an air of urgency. The Merman wore the usual carotene armor with a saw tooth hatchet made from shark teeth and a spear the size of his forearm.
"General, we can hold them off for now, but we won't be able to do anything if they bring out their Leviathans or Krakens." He spoke in a rush, his face shell-shocked.
"Solider, good work. What news do you have of the rumors of sea dragons?" They were royally screwed if the Sea Dragons made an appearance, for the only reason why they won against them the last time was for help from the Sea God. The number of times the Sea God has made an appearance can be counted on one hand, and they have always been during times of great suffering.
The clearly green soldier paled at his question before stammering out, "T-t-there seems to be r-reports of a massive dark s-shape in the Shivering Sea. Many squadrons of Merfolk have gone missing. The Merfolk of the Shivering Sea was a harder and more volatile variant of Merfolk with midnight black scales and snow-white skin. Their forces were seemingly unstoppable, meaning whatever had taken them out had to be a dragon.
"We need to find a reason why they are fighting and find it before they can claim it for their own." The General spoke in a tired voice, baffled at the Deep Ones' audacity to make alliances with the Sea Dragons, who were known for their dangerous nature.
"We have a theory; the crones, right at the beginning of the threat, felt a power light up in the lands of men." Stated a Mermaid with flowing robes of delicate golden fish skin and pearls in her hair.
"Priestess," said both the General and Soldier as they put both hands to their foreheads in a bow as a gesture of reverence.
"Why would it be from the lands of men? What purpose would an artifact of the sea be to mankind? Why would the Deep ones sacrifice and risk so much for it?" The General spoke quietly as befitting for communicating with a priestess.
"We do not know or suspect it's an artifact. The energies are not unlike the ones sensed during the time of the first waters." The battle was tuned out for both fighting mermen as they realized what that meant.
In their silence, the priestess continued, "A son of Poseidon has been found."
"Tell me about your mother, John," Percy remembered his interesting conversation with Eddard Stark. While he knew he had no right to the information, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow important.
Something dark flashed across the boy's face before he snapped, "I don't know anything about her." Johns' expression seemed to fit the almost entirely dark forest around them, which seemed to swallow them.
"Anger is warranted in this situation because every child should, at the very least, know something about their parents. However, I was merely asking a question; you didn't have to snap at me," Percy chastised Snow.
"You're right. I'm sorry I shouldn't have offended you like that." John looked down, but Percy knew that asking about his mother put him in a sour mood. Asking directly wouldn't get him anywhere, especially since it was clear that John knew nothing about his parentage. John was slightly younger than Robb, which would put his birth during Roberts' Rebellion.
"Tell me about the rebellion your father and the king fought in." Percy needed more information about the time he would have been conceived and born. John had the looks of the Starks but was not of Ned, so that left Brandon, Lyana, and Benjin to be one of his parents.
On her charcoal-black horse to his right, Arya answered, "It started when the mad king burned my brother and grandfather alive with wildfire." It was clear that the little girl loved to learn about battles as she spoke of it with reverence and awe.
"It lasted over a year and cost the life of Lyana and many others as our father, the King, and the Vale fought against the Targaryen." John picked up from where Arya had left off.
That left Brandon out of the list for John's potential heritage since he died too soon to be capable of siring John. Not to mention, if he was John's father, that would make John the rightful heir to Winterfell, and there was no way an honorable man such as Ned wouldn't step down for his brother's Child. This left Lyana and Benjin, and neither, as far as he could tell, had good reason to sire John or for Ned to pass him off as his own. "How did Lyana die?" Percy heard about the late Stark in passing but never got an apparent reason for her death.
"She died at the Tower of Joy from abuse at the hands of the Targaryens," Arya answered with her previous reverence.
This confused Percy, for he was under the impression that women weren't allowed to go to war in Westeros. John came in for the clutch as he continued where his sister left off: "She was taken captative by Rhaegar Targaryen, which is what set off the war along with the murder of my uncle and Grandfather." Something clicked into place, especially considering who sits on the Iron Throne today. Benjin had yet to swear allegiance to the wall, so if he had John, he wouldn't be punished. Without consequences to Benjin, Eddard would never need to help his brother cover his tracks, but Lyana was a different story. Lyana could have been raped by her 'royal captor' and conceived a child that would be a threat to the throne even with his bastard status. To protect the kingdom's peace and his young nephew, Eddard would have taken him under his wing in disguise as his child. Having no proof and under the impression the conversation left best to the Lord of the North, Percy let the subject drop.
The camp grew deathly quiet as the party of four left the forest's perils for the camp's safety. It wasn't because their Lord had nasty burns all over his body that he didn't have before going into the forest, but instead because of the extremely short, red-eyed women who stared back at each of them from the back of an elk with mighty antlers.
"Child of Forrest!"
"By the Gods! I thought they were extinct!"
"He can heal the sick, fight like a demon, and befriend the children?"
"He has to be god blessed. There is no way a normal sorcerer can do what he does."
The once-quiet camp exploded with noise as hundreds of voices overlapped, creating a cacophony of noise. The common folk around him looked ready to pass out from shock and nervous wariness. 'Shit, I forgot how strongly mortals can react to the unknown. I basically brought to life one of their founding myths.' He waited patiently, letting most of them get it out of their system before sending a slight tremor through the earth, powerful enough to be felt but not to knock anyone over. The whole time the humans around them had their entire world flipped upside down, the short, red-eyed woman looked out at the humans gathered around her without fear or discomfort.
Once the camp went silent again, Percy, in a tone that broke no argument, stated, "I have found this Child of the Forest within the Wolfswood, and she has agreed to help me construct our city. She is an ally and friend, and I expect each of you to treat her like our own. This means I don't want you to gawk, fear, bug, or harm her in any way."
"I thought her kind to be extinct thousands of years ago! How is it that you found one in Wolfswood? It might be wild, but many pass through these woods, so surely, they would be seen?" Asked a cook with a tattered, dirty dress from weeks of walking.
"We have ways of hiding the child of the first men and haven't found a reason to make ourselves known until Percy." She dismounted her steed before walking through his people, looking up at each of the shocked faces, but the way they moved out of her way made it seem like she towered over them. "Percy is of the old gods and has been chosen by them to lead. Follow him, and you all will be led into a future of far greater heights than any of you could imagine!" Percy inwardly groaned, knowing the effect her words would inspire into the mortals, especially coming from someone who, according to legend, was closer to the Old Gods. They already began to talk about their new Lord in hushed voices, many confessing that he was closer to the gods.
"You don't have to…" Percy began. To his utter shock, Gregaus knelt on the snow-covered ground and professed loudly to the entire camp, "My people pledge ourselves to you, Percy Jackson, King of the Children of the Forest." That one sentence caused pandemonium among those who heard those words.