[Chapter Size: 4000 Words.]
---------------------------------------
Third Person POV
Winterfell, 298 AC.
---------------------------------------
It could be said that the information about hundreds of Arcticans disembarking from their ships and advancing toward Winterfell, riding both Arctican horses and the ones the Manderlys had lent them, spread before they had even completely left the city.
But this was not sothing very pleasant for many people inside the Stark castle.
The king was displeased and ca to complain to Ned about it, making so subtle threats about the consequences if they were to attack, especially after what had happened to the queen. The king would not even speak to or praise Arya Stark. She had beco far too dangerous in his eyes, and he began to think that she was not so much like his beloved Lyanna Stark after all.
The girl had proven to be much more dangerous.
The queen had finally left the maester's chambers and returned to her old quarters, where she could be treated more comfortably. At the sa ti, she demanded that the maester tend to her constantly, making Maester Luwin's life difficult.
Maester Luwin did not have an easy ti there. He was treated like a servant by the queen and her demands — especially demands that were practically impossible, such as her deciding that her face should return to how it was before, threatening that if any scar remained, he would be to bla and executed.
Not knowing what to do, Luwin went directly to Lord Stark, who simply threatened to leave her without a maester to care for her if she continued with such absurd demands.
With no choice, Ned went to speak with Robert and told these words to the king, who then went to his wife to make her stop demanding things that were beyond the maester's ability. She began shouting at him in desperation, saying he could not let things remain as they were and that he should demand Arya Stark's head — and even the Starks' — for having injured the queen.
The king ended up getting frustrated with her, saying she was asking too much, especially when there was no way to prove that it had been an attack by Arya.
This made the queen even more outraged by the situation. He told her that she should follow the maester's instructions, but without threatening him. Otherwise, she would be without a maester, and that would be worse for her.
Cersei broke down in tears when the king said there was no way to prevent marks from being left. "I saw the cuts myself, they were far too deep." He said it with a certain distaste.
She still did not have the courage to look in the mirror when Luwin changed her dressings every day. She was afraid.
In the end, the king simply left her there, walking out of the room and leaving the queen to stew in her own resentnt.
anwhile, Arya continued her routine in Winterfell, feeling a little nervous knowing that her new escort was on the way. It had been a few days since Bran's visions, and she tried to help him as much as possible, even asking for help from other wargs who were with her among the Arcticans.
His situation was complicated due to the potential he represented as a greenseer. Arya found it strange when Bran spoke of one of his visions: seeing their own mother as so sort of walking corpse, for a second.
She did not really believe it, but thought that maybe her mother had appeared as a zombie, like in the army of the dead, which worried her deep down.
But Bran had never said that she had glowing blue eyes, rather a dead eye without light and, at the sa ti, full of hatred and resentnt. The dead had no feelings, and the coldness of those eyes left her in doubt. Was that vision of a future real or not?
Either way, she continued working among the children and her father with her siblings. Her royal guards were always with her. Arya could see, more and more, the stares fixed on her. She knew very well that the queen threatened her life all the ti, but she did not care much about it. She simply went on with her normal days, waiting for the Arcticans to arrive, as they had announced.
She could feel the discomfort of the southerners with the new group approaching. They said they were heavily ard, according to the letter Lord Manderly had sent.
anwhile, the castle was having so administrative problems with the place becoming so hostile. Cassandra had to step away from several duties to keep solving problems, and the Lannister n, at the queen's request, were causing trouble, with Ned having to further increase the number of n inside the castle.
Bran was returning to normal. Sansa was also finally starting to leave her room, though it was still possible to see her eyes full of sadness — and even anger — directed at Arya, regarding the failed marriage.
Robb was also very determined to try to prove himself as a worthy lord of Winterfell, disciplined, doing all his tasks and even being proactive. Ned appreciated this and, deep down, hoped that his son would grow quickly so he would have soone to rely on. That he would realize he had to act like a true Stark.
A day later, the queen finally gathered the courage to look at herself in the mirror, after Maester Luwin removed her dressings while she was alone, with Jai being away at that mont, which was rare.
She took a deep breath… she looked at her own image… and then saw that grotesque creature, with a face completely red, full of cuts, and with the hair shaved at the front.
The cuts were all deep with raw flesh exposed; she was lucky they had not reached her eyes. She froze as soon as she ca face-to-face with her new appearance, unable to believe what she saw. Where was that beautiful woman who made all n fall at her feet?
She was anything but that woman now. Her beauty — her weapon — had vanished. The blood ran from her wounds as if reacting to her depression. She began to wonder how this had happened, how it had co to this point.
The answer was right there: her wounded face.
"Why ? How did things co to this? Am I going to stay like this?" she murmured, incredulous at the image that made her want to vomit.
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this… the prophecy said…" these words escaped her lips.
She looked at the maester, slightly uneasy. Luwin seed cornered.
"Get out… get out of here now!" she shouted, raising her voice at the last part.
The maester imdiately left the room. She needed to be alone. Her eyes were fixed on the mirror, while she repeated, with trembling lips:
"How… how did it all end like this?"
'A younger, more beautiful queen will co, and she will take everything from you…' The voice of that witch echoed in her mind. She had never imagined it would be like this… It was nothing like she had envisioned…
This was not what had actually happened. Even though she feared what would co, it should have happened differently… not in this way. Arya was not a queen, she was not stealing anything from her, only trying to kill her.
'Without her face, she would have nothing either.' she thought.
"Arya Stark… It's all her fault… She did this to … I hate her… It's all her fault! Everything that happened was Arya Stark's fault!" the queen murmured, until she realized she was shouting, her hand already flying toward the mirror, striking it harder than she had imagined she could. She scread, hitting it again.
The first blow cracked the glass, and the second caused even more damage, with cuts starting to appear on her hand, leaving blood among the shards of broken glass, but she did not seem to stop.
"Why?! Why?! WHY?!" — with each scream, more blood began to flow from her wounds.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this!"
Outside, Maester Luwin and the royal guards could hear her screaming, but no one did anything, as they knew there was no way to intervene.
"Co in here now!" she shouted, as Maester Luwin entered with the royal guard checking the situation.
"Do you need my help, my queen?!" the guard asked, while she shot him a look, seeing the disgust in the man's eyes.
"Leave!" the queen shouted, her face now also covered in blood due to her recent actions, her wounds having begun to reopen. The royal guard left, and she turned back to the maester.
"Heal these wounds! Do sothing useful!" she yelled at the man.
The maester sighed and stepped in, dealing with the irrational woman while she kept saying:
"I'm going to kill that Stark… I'm going to make her suffer!"
Unsurprisingly, when he finished rebandaging her face and also her hands, Luwin, still muttering all kinds of curses in his mind toward the queen, was kicked out of the room monts later.
He went to Lord Stark to inform him of what he had heard, while the man only sighed. Ned said that he could no longer stand having that woman threatening his family, but that he would have to keep her until the arrival of another maester who could take her south while treating her face during the journey.
"I'm already speaking with Robert… Now, all we have to do is wait. Inform her brothers that she has woken up — at least she stays calr with him…" said Ned.
Luwin nodded, leaving the solar while he went to find the two Lannister brothers in the hall, unaware that their sister had woken up at that mont.
For Tyrion, it was a surprise to find his brother eating, as he approached him to join him for the first al of the day.
Jai spent almost all his ti with Cersei and believed she was sleeping, which was why he was not in the room at that mont.
"Jai..." Tyrion said cautiously, sitting at the table.
"Tyrion." Jai spoke with bad temper, glancing with a hostile gleam at Stark guards passing by them — there were so many guards inside the castle at this mont.
Tyrion noticed this and sighed. "We are in quite a complicated situation, brother. It's not enough that our sister is openly uttering several curses against Lord Stark's daughter, but now we also have the Arcticans coming to Winterfell with more royal guards — and, according to them, with Valyrian steel armor. Can you believe those guys still had that...? How rich does soone have to be to have guards wearing a quantity of tal that would be worth an entire castle?"
"Things are getting very complicated. We don't want to deal with more n like the ones who always accompany the princess... and now more of them are coming," Tyrion added.
Jai only clenched his teeth. He could do nothing but try to calm his sister, with everything that was happening.
"She is our sister," he said in a tight tone. "We must do sothing... it was Arya Stark who did this!"
"We can't prove that she simply sent or controlled a bird to attack her... That doesn't make much sense," Tyrion said.
"It was her, no doubt," Jai muttered. "Take my word for it... I also believe it was her, and you do too! After everything that happened, and then she gets attacked like that..." Jai snorted in anger.
"Well, our sister should have accepted the Starks' offer and left here, canceling everything imdiately." Tyrion sighed.
"You talk as if she were to bla for all this," Jai growled, so loud that even so servants turned to look at them at that mont as they walked through the hall, while Tyrion shrank...
Even a servant had to take a step back from the tension between the brothers.
"She may not be to bla for her own injury... but she caused all of this. Do you really think the attack in the forest wasn't our sister's doing? You know better than most how dangerous the Arcticans were! They fear no one — not our father nor any other authority! You know what they did to Oldtown, to our father's feared hound... to the Redwyne fleet..." Tyrion murmured quietly.
Jai just shook his head and began to leave the table, going to think a bit while getting so air before heading to his sister.
"Ser Jai!" Maester Luwin arrived at that mont. "Your sister is awake," he inford, while Jai didn't say a word and simply went straight into the corridor, passing the maester.
Tyrion watched him leave, and the maester looked at him. He expected him to accompany his brother, but the dwarf only shrugged. He knew that Cersei would never let him see her in that vulnerable state. She would have sent assassins after him if that happened, as had almost happened the last ti.
Jai went to the room and passed by the royal guards, entering the place. He saw her from behind, sitting on the bed, looking out the window with her head wrapped in bandages and even her hand, sothing that had not been there before.
"What happened?" He approached the woman, and upon seeing the broken mirror on the other side of the room, he already understood what had happened. Cersei did not even seem to want to answer him, ignoring his presence as he ca closer.
By the side of the bed, several other blood-stained cloths had been set aside, left there after the maester cleaned the wounds — open both on her face and on her hands, from her rciless blows against the glass.
When Jai got close enough, Cersei turned to him, and he could see her green eyes full of despair beneath the bandaged face.
"Where is that whore?" she asked calmly, with a tone he never would have expected from his sister at that mont.
"Who? Arya Stark?" he asked, grimacing.
"Don't say her na with respect. Call her the whore of the North!" she said again, no longer with the calm from before, but with a tone full of venom.
"Why do you want to know her location?" Jai asked.
"I'm going to have soone kill her," she replied without any remorse, once again in a calm tone.
"Are you insane? We're still in Winterfell!" Jai said, looking at her reproachfully.
"No! She has to die! Look at what she did to ! I was going to lose everything to a queen! It wasn't supposed to be like this! She's not a queen! The prophecy didn't say that!" she shouted, agitated, while Jai was confused by these words.
"I don't know what you an by that… Explain to what this prophecy is," he demanded, but she only scowled the next mont.
"It doesn't matter, it's nothing. Either way, she has to pay. I can send one of ours, he can sneak into her room and stab her," she said with coldness.
Jai just shook his head. This woman is losing her mind… and this could get them all killed.
"Bring my children. I want to see them," she said suddenly, changing the subject.
Jai frowned, displeased with that — his sister was going insane. He wondered what she might do with the children in that state. After all, they were his children too.
"Cersei…" he began to say, but the queen interrupted him.
"Bring my children now!" she shouted, while the man sighed and left the place.
If there was anyone she trusted to move about the castle with the children, it was Jai. Whenever she needed sothing involving the children, she wanted him to bring them personally and would not allow anyone else to touch them.
Upon leaving, Jai found Tyrion standing in the corridor, raising an eyebrow.
"I heard everything she shouted in there. She doesn't seem well at all," the dwarf murmured.
Jai, not knowing if he was serious or rely provoking him, ignored it so as not to get even more stressed and continued toward the children's room.
Two days later, the Arcticans finally arrived, with their banners fluttering across the southern landscape and advancing toward Winterfell, drawing everyone's attention as they moved through the North.
They moved in a disciplined group, more organized than any other ever seen there, maintaining a perfect formation among them. There was no record of such a large contingent of Arcticans displaying such performance in foreign lands. Most of those with Arya were Unsullied, accompanied only by a small group of Arcticans — but now the presence was much greater, and they were all soldiers.
The entire city turned out to see the newcors, while all were shocked by those leading the march: the royal guards, wearing Valyrian steel armor that glead as it reflected the sun.
Birds circled the sky the entire ti, flying above the groups, with wargs among them checking the periter and carrying out ticulous searches for any threat in the area.
Their horses, though most belonging to the Manderlys, were easily tad and followed the Arcticans' commands. They marched steadily, showing no sign of exhaustion in the past few days; aside from the royal guards wearing Valyrian tal, the rest wore armor and helms of eldental, advancing with discipline.
No one said a word; they simply continued the march while people shouted and children pointed in curiosity. The royal guards were disciplined enough to keep their focus on the objective. As they approached Winterfell, they advanced toward the gates, already awaited by the fortress.
The gate was open, with several n on the walls watching, so with admiration. This, however, ant nothing to those royal guards, who passed through the entrance and saw the crowd waiting in the courtyard.
The leader scanned the entire area along with his companions, searching for any danger, any archer or threat that could harm them — and, most importantly, the one they had co to escort.
His gaze rose to one of the windows on the upper floors, where a woman stood with her face completely bandaged. He recognized her imdiately by her condition and felt the hatred radiating from her, as if she wanted to kill him along with the others wearing that symbol on their chest.
It surprised him slightly, but also caused the woman herself to retreat, almost hiding with nothing but a deadly glare.
The royal guard's gaze returned to Arya, standing in front of her father, staring back at him. On a platform behind them sat the king of Westeros — easily recognizable by his fat body and the crown on his head — seated in a chair, watching the scene as if it were a spectacle.
He seed to want to assert his position as king, despite being shocked by the sight of the Arctican royal guards alongside the royal guards of the king of Westeros.
To Trinsmy, the royal guard in command, he was rely a pathetic man who had once been defeated by the man to whom Trinsmy and the other ninety-nine royal guards served with body and soul.
Everyone there was surprised and even impressed. Seeing four n on those Arctican steeds in Valyrian steel armor would impress anyone, and all the royal guards present — having regrouped after confirming there was no danger — skillfully guided their horses to Princess Arya, stopping before her and dismounting.
It was a spectacle for everyone: not only because of the armor, but also because of the steady, fearless gaze of those n behind their helts. anwhile, more groups advanced through the gates, heavily ard and perfectly organized in formation.
Lord Stark even raised an eyebrow; not even his best n could maintain such discipline.
In any case, the lead royal guard approached Arya, bowing his head slightly.
"Trinsmy at your service, Princess. We are here at the king's command. I have heard of your situation, and we are here to escort you to our ship and take you back to Arctica. I hope you have not been facing problems after the recent misfortunes."
"Thank you for your words, Trinsmy. It is good to see you again," Arya replied. "I have been well these past few days and accept your escort, since I know that, whether I want it or not, you would not accept otherwise." She spoke, and the man nodded, satisfied.
"Excellent. We will prepare shortly," he said before turning his gaze to two other royal guards beside him.
"I trust you have protected her well over this past year," the royal guard said in a hard tone to Jill and Bari.
"You seem to underestimate us. We are as capable as you are. Do not think so little of us," Bari replied.
"Even so, I hope you have done an excellent job. Even if it had cost your lives, would you have been willing to save her? Because we have heard so things… that she walked into a trap to hunt the enemy," Trinsmy said, with an accusatory tone.
"That was resolved long ago. It was a plan," Arya intervened, speaking more cautiously than she did when addressing her father, as she knew it also affected her royal guards, who could be accused of a lack of discipline. And she did not even want to imagine Jon's fury — which she knew would also fall on her.
"I can assure you that our princess has no injuries beyond that," Jill said. "But this is a matter we should discuss in private, not in front of the entire castle." Jill knew that Trinsmy had a rather blunt and explosive temperant; he would speak even to a man who might kill him on the spot, if that was his will.
"You're right," Trinsmy replied in the end. He raised his hand, greeting both Bari and Jill. "In any case, thank you for your service."
"No problem. It's been a while since we've seen each other in person. We might be going ho soon," Bari said, trying to sound more relaxed.
"It's good to see you again… and I want to et the others too," Jill said.
In any case, Trinsmy only nodded, but his eyes turned to another group. There were so Starks who had been watching them the entire ti, while Arya greeted the other royal guards, speaking both with Bari and with Jill in turn, exchanging a few words.
They were no longer speaking about her safety, but seed more relaxed, like old friends.
Even so, the other three royal guards did not refrain from comnting that Arya had grown very well, becoming more beautiful in the past year, while Trinsmy paid no attention to such complints in his mission — all that mattered to him was protecting Arya, the princess of Arctic.
Then Trinsmy approached the Starks, with Sansa being the only one absent — and she would never take part in sothing like this.
The other Starks, especially the children, could not help but admire the full, well-crafted Valyrian steel armor, adorned with symbols of weirwood trees on the shoulders and, on the chest, the crest of Arctica in all its glory.
"You must be Lord Stark," Trinsmy said in a hard tone to Arya's father.
"I am. And you are…?" Ned asked the man to introduce himself, even though he had already heard his conversation with his daughter.
"I am Trinsmy, from Arctica. As you can see, we are here to escort our princess," he replied.
'Our princess, instead of "your daughter",' Ned thought, but he had no ti to speak before the man continued:
"Not only to escort her, but also to kill anyone who has hard her." The hard tone echoed through the entire courtyard, and the atmosphere quickly shifted to sothing much darker.
------
Raccoon Here:
It could be said that Arya was the queen from the prophecy, when a younger and more beautiful queen would co and take everything from her. After all, Cersei had her beauty as her main weapon to manipulate whover she wished. Now she had beco ugly. And that was sothing she brought upon herself.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!
I hope each chapter has provided incredible monts. If you like my work and would like to support the continuation of this fanfic, consider becoming a patron with plans starting at $2!. As a token of gratitude, I offer access to more than 210 extra chapters with 7 active fanfics at the sa ti, along with other exclusive benefits on my profile, such as images and significant decisions for the stories.
Even if you are not a patron, I am making chapters available a few hours earlier here, so beco a free mber on the platform!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: /RaccoonLeague
Extra Content Already Available:
One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra chapters!
👑 Ga of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic!: 30 extra chapters!
🌀 Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI!: 30 extra chapters!
🗡️ The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! 30 extra chapters!
⚡ Harry Potter - Shadow Monarch! 30 extra chapters!
👑 Ga of Thrones: DragonBorn! 30 extra chapters!
Except for One Piece with daily chapters and DragonBorn once a week, all fanfics are updated 3 tis a week, there's just a pause in updating in the week, only to create drafts for the week's chapters.
In addition to the extra chapters, daily chapters are posted and 25 chapters per week!
Your support is very important and makes all the difference in keeping these stories alive.
Thank you very much for being part of this journey! I hope you continue to enjoy the story and that it brings even more joy to your life!
Visit our Patreon for more!!
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
User Comments
0 comments from readers