Warning: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire, nor this Story.
This story deserves to be available for readers to read. This Story was removed, it deserved to be available, Original Author is Blackwolf2019 as i don't own this story or its work.
Comments and everything below is from the OA.
Chapter 34: A Time of War
Hope you all enjoy! Feel free tae comment as always!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Sansa
The Dothraki were starting to move into the Riverlands. From what Sansa could gather from Lord Royce's tactical knowledge; they were being sent in to weaken the Riverlands whilst the proper armies of the South mustered. It had been a pre-emptive strike on the Riverlands. The Targaryens had clearly thought that the Riverlands would side with the Northmen when they came South. Something that was inevitable now that the word had come of the Northmen ending the Iron Islands for good. According to Lord Royce the strategy was effective for weakening an enemy's ability for forming a host but Sansa knew that not giving any Riverlords the chance to openly defect to the crown meant that they had lost any River houses that may have supported them. Sansa hoped that her Uncle Edmure had managed to get as much of his banners to Riverrun to avoid their forces being completely ravaged by them.Please don't make the same mistake you had before the war of five Kings Uncle.Sansa hoped as the knights of the Vale made their way through the bloody gate in aid of her Uncle and brother when he arrived in the South. The Vale was to bring Thirty Thousand soldiers to this war. It would not be said that the Vale did not join this war to end the dragons. They had abandoned Robb when he fought for her and Father but they would not now. They would fight to avenge Arya Stark on their former Lady Regent's behalf.This is their last obligation to me.Sansa thought as she rode onwards.
Sansa had spent the last fifteen years ruling the vale on the behalf of her late husband's bastard daughters, legitimised by both the Vale and House Targaryen. They had proved to be the best option due to the lack of appeal for the Arryns of Gull Town, the extinction of all other Arryns due to Baelish and the knowledge that whatever house married Alys would become the leading House of the Vale. As the widow of Lord Arryn, she'd been the only real choice for regent and she had both House Arryn's forces and Lord Royce's forces to secure that. Her regency had ended though with the marriage of Andar Royce's son Robar to Alys but House Royce and the girl she had raised as a daughter were willing to keep her in a position of power. As did much of the Vale that had seen her rule and successfully worm her way out of marriages that were offered by the crown due a few well bribed Maesters to say that she was barren. It saddened her that she had to do that but Alys and Minisa had become her children. Though with Alys wed and Minisa soon to be married to her cousin Hoster Tully, Sansa would soon have no true ties to the Vale. Instead, she would be re-joined with the Pack.
She had yearned for it for so long. To be re-joined with Jon and Rickon. The news that her youngest brother lived from Brienne all of those years ago had brought some joy out of the grief over Arya's death. The pack had survived more than she had expected and her and Jon weren't as alone as she had first thought. Soon Sansa would be home to see her brothers and her nieces and nephews she had learnt of every time Brienne had been sent North to discuss the plans of the King in the North. Sansa had 5 nephews and nieces by Jon and Val and three by Rickon and Lyanna.Rickard, Brandon, Lyarra, Eddard and Robb. Maege, Tormund and Dacey.Sansa looked forward to knowing them all by more than their names. And she longed to have them know that their aunt had stood with their Mothers and Fathers.For Arya.
Davos
Davos smiled proudly as he watched his son Devan, the new Lord of Rainwood, captain their ship through the harsh seas of the Stormlands. It filled him with joy to see his eldest living son completely attuned to the sea and the ships. His younger sons were much the same, having taken command of ships within the Northern Navy on the East and West coast and given coastal lands to run. The seas were in his sons' blood.But looking at them now makes me wish I was that young to be able to do that as effortlessly.Davos thought somewhat enviously as he made his way into Shireen's Quarters on the Storm Shatterer. He knew he should be more accepting of time making him older and turning his hair as white as snow and his bones creakier than a door in flea bottom. But seeing his sons fully grown and able to do what he could once with ease made him feel it nonetheless.
"Uncle Davos is coming!"
And these two make me feel even older.Davos thought wryly as he saw two twin eight-year-olds sitting outside Shireen's Quarters. The twin sons of Shireen clearly had the Baratheon look with thick black hair, the makings of the strong jawline and deep Baratheon blue eyes. Very little of their father had been left in them but you could see bits of him if you knew where to look. The speckle of blue-grey at the centre of their deep blue eyes, fairer skin and a longer face than usual in a Baratheon were enough for any Northmen to know that the wild wolf Davos had brought home had fathered them. It was something that had transpired after the newly-wed wolf and she-bear had invited Shireen on ahunt.The two women had come back pregnant after that and Toregg and Dryn had both been guessing whether it was the wolf or the She-bear that had initiated it. Davos honestly didn't want to know, simply being content with seeing the young Shireen happy.
Stannis, the elder of the two, had shouted excitedly through the open cabin door before running towards him with his brother Davos.
Davos grinned at the young Baratheon's words before the twins barged into him and gave him a hug.
"How are my young Princes?" Davos asked kindly.
His namesake was the first to answer him, looking at him with a cheerful smile.
"Excellent Uncle Davos! We're no longer sea sick!"
Davos chuckled. "Well, I would hope my namesake would be at home on the sea."
"Will you or Devan teach us to climb the rigging?" Stannis asked eagerly.
Davos smiled. "Go run up the deck now and I'm sure Devan will be happy to show you. The sea is a bit harsh but there are no storms to cause any problems."
"Our ancestors fought the Storms Uncle Davos! They're nothing for a Baratheon!" Stannis exclaimed happily as the two twins charged up to the deck, leaving Davos facing Shireen by the door. She was smiling sweetly at him.
"I sometimes feel like they want to follow in your steps rather than be Princes of the Six Kingdoms. They love the tale of how you smuggled onions in for Father."
Davos smiled at the woman before him. It was still strange to see her as a woman grown and not the child but it warmed him that she had lived when life had repeatedly been unkind to her before Winter. In truth, Davos shouldn't have been surprised. The Queen of the Six Kingdoms was her Father's daughter. Too stubborn to let the storms weather her.
"I wouldn't worry Your Grace. You've taught them well enough that smuggling is no business for them."
"And what will I say to them when they learn that taking back Storm's End required us being smuggled in once the Golden Company has left for war? They'll have two stories of how brilliant the smugglers life is." Shireen asked wryly.
Davos simply raised his fingerless hand. "And I believe I've shown them the consequences of a long-term smuggling more than enough times."
Shireen laughed kindly as the to took a seat in her quarters. Davos could see maps and blocks with different houses in the Stormlands. It was quite a detailed map too, listing the various house numbers and their strength that had been gathered in preparation for taking back the Stormlands. The years had not been kind to the Stormlands with their forces only amounting to just over six thousand fighting men. It was a small army but well equipped thanks to years of smuggling weapons in from the North in Shireen's name. And thankfully that force would be aided by themselves, bringing a thousand Northmen and the Manderly Navy to take Storm's End from the small Garrison that would be left by the Golden Company. They would have the support of Edric Storm. Robert Baratheon's bastard that Davos had sent off in a boat had been found three years back in the East with a two thousand strong sell sword group. Shireen and the King in the North had brought them to the North bringing them South to assimilate with the Storm lords on Shireen's behalf. He would be the one to gather the banners and pledge them to Shireen once Davos had smuggled her into Storm's End.
"I'm nervous about this Davos." Shireen admitted as they both looked at the map.
"The plan is a sound plan that you worked on your Grace. And a one that doesn't require much from the Stormlands in this war until the end when the Northmen have won. Davos replied confidently in hopes to assure her.
Shireen nodded. "I'm more concerned on whether Edric will decide he wants to be King or the Storm Lords will decide that for him. A sensible option would have been to marry him but our children would be behind in the succession unless I declared Stannis and Davos illegitimate. It is risky me demanding he settle for being the Lord of Storm's End."
She's always been a smart one. Thinking of every possible risk."I have no worries Your Grace. I doubt the Storm Lords will survive you if they demand they make Stannis and Davos bastards."
Nor would they survive the wolf and she-bear should they hear it.
"Ours is the fury." Shireen replied with a smile returning to her lips.
Davos smiled as the tow started to look over plans again for putting the rightful Queen into power. She looked as stern as her father in that moment.I may not have been able to make her Queen of the Seven my King. But I've helped keep her safe all these years and will make her Queen of the Six.
Val
The war had truly begun with Rickon's victorious return from the Iron Islands. The Prince of Winterfell and defender of Moat Cailin had earnt his name as the Hungry Wolf Reborn through his extinction of the squids. Every Northman had come back with skulls strapped to their horses. Rickon had taken Victarion's skull. His wife Lyanna had taken Asha Greyjoy's skull, wearing it at the hip of her new Valyrian Steel armour adorned in the colours of House Stark and Mormont. And her eldest son of her 5 children, Rickard, had brought the head of Lord Drumm home on his horse and Lord Drumm's sword at his hip, looking solemn until he greeted them. Val and Jon had both been proud of their son in that moment as her husband had greeted him with a bear hug. It was their son's first true taste of war outside of the skirmishes they had taken him on and their son had learnt the horrors of it and the necessities that came of it.The Man who passes the sentence must swing the sword.Their son knew the ways of the first men and how to be a warrior of the first men.He will guard the North and the children well while me and Jon fight the Southerners.Val thought proudly as she walked through the silent Godswood to find her husband. He had left quickly after speaking with all of the bannermen on the war to come after the victory feast.
Val knew he would be in the Godswood. It was where he went for solace or whenever a bout of mourning and rage consumed him that not even fighting bandits and squids could temper. Fifteen years had passed, and although the King in the North had been able to live despite the pain, the loss of Arya had never ebbed and the hate of the dragons had only grown. It had stayed strong within the ice and Wolfblood that flowed through his veins, much like it did in herself and every other Northerner that had lost to the dragons.The North will never forget, the King in the North most of all.
The silence of the Godswood was broken by the padding of Frost towards Val. The Direwolf was her daughter Lyarra's.He's asking for the sword back.Val realised as Frost guided her towards the Heart Tree where her husband and daughter sat. Val smiled as she looked at her husband in a more relaxed, joyful manner. Something only reserved for family and the banners when time allowed. When the savage white wolf of winter and King in the North was not needed. Her husband's hair was still mostly dark brown hair but faint lines of white were starting to show on his sides and within his beard. It made him look more at one with the snows of the north. His grey eyes had become harder and more savage ever since Arya's death; something that had never left him even when he was at his most joyful with the pack and people. The scars across his face had whitened over time but looked no less fearsome. Especially the scar across his face from the First Other. It sometimes felt cold to touch in comparison to the Weirwood branch scars across his chest which let Val feel his savage heartbeat. The proof that the Wolfblood pumped strong around his body and was blessed with life by the Old Gods.
Lyarra, with her honey blonde hair and grey eyes, looked up intently at her father as she slowly handed needle back to her Father. He had given it to her on her seventh name-day for her to learn to fight. She had spent three years now with it in her hand and this would be the first time it had left.And he will give it back to her once blood has been spilt with it.Val knew as he heard him make that vow quietly before giving his daughter a hug and sending her off running into the Godswood. Frost decided to follow her Stark eagerly. Her husband's gaze had turned to needle, and his face had turned from kind and solemn into that of his wolf in instant. Ghost and Nymeria had come to sit beside him, both growling alongside their King.
"We're at war now love." Val said simply as she sat beside him in front of the Heart Tree.
Jon kept his eyes transfixed on needle. She could still see the bits of blackened char at the hilt which had never quite left. He spoke with a low, guttural growl.
"Aye. I've waited long enough. I've held back long enough. I look forward to going South. I want to hunt."
His eyes flashed like Ghost's eyes for a moment as he said those last words. Val put her hand to his face and pulled him up from needle. His eyes softened slightly despite the snarl and teeth being almost bare.
"I do too. It is about time kneelers see the Queen of Winter. I can show them what true women are made of."
Jon started to smile wolfishly at her as he put a hand around her face. "It's time the South remembered for a change."
And with what you want to do to the dragons, I doubt the kneelers will ever forget.Val thought as the two kissed deeply with the wolves howling in the Godswood.They'll never forget either of us and the North.
Wylis
The bulk of his navy had gone South to help take Storm's End and eventually besiege the capital's ports when the time came. The rest of Wylis' fleet was currently helping the Skagosi fleet bring their soldiers to the mainland for the war against the dragons. The King in the North had called the rest of the banners after Prince Rickon's ending of the Squids. Twenty-Five Thousand Northmen would be marching South with Fifteen Thousand left in the North under Crown Prince Rickard's control and one thousand at Storm's End. The might of the Vale and Riverlands would be joining them as well. They would have near enough to sixty thousand men, women, wolves and giants to beat the dragons and the Lord of White harbour was proud to be a part of it.The North will not bend.Wylis thought to himself before he heard the almighty, guttural roar from Skagos that turned everyone on the Lord of White Harbour's ships silent.
The Sound had come from the Volcano at the centre of the island. It was primal and powerful as it got louder and louder; and nearer and nearer as small bursts of flame erupted from the mountain, spewing on the tops of the Volcano. It was followed by a large tremor as the top quarter of the Volcano burst open, sending rocks tumbling down the mountain. The roar became almost deafening as giant coal black wings flew upwards into the sky with giant yellow eyes joining the sky. The monster that Wylis had been warned of all of those years ago by the Crowl was free. The further up the great beast got, the darker it became for their ships.It's big enough to blot out the sun.Wylis thought with a cold terror as the giant flew in the sky. Darkness turned to fire as the Dragon breathed upwards, sending a large cyclone of flames upwards towards the sun like it was a challenge before beginning to fly Southward, returning the light to Manderly and his navy.Cannibal's joined the Northern army.Wylis thought with both dread and excitement flowing through his veins as he watched the great demon fly away, roaring louder than any crashing wave the Lord of White Harbour had come up against.
Hope you all enjoyed it! As you can see there are plans afoot everywhere. The North hasnae been idle these last fifteen years and are out fir blood. If you have any questions feel free tae ask. The next chapter is gonnae be a battle and will be fae Gendry's POV.