THANK YOU
Fredrik Dahlman
Uriano De Oliveira
Edwin torres
Cle
Darth Bane
Daniel Munitz
lucafinn
R3vo
Christian Mordal
Rook Whitson
Dragos C N
kevon deshazier
Damano66
UnFallen
For supporting my Patreon or Buyacoffee
Support and read advance chapters at my patreon or buyacoffee
5 Chapters for 1$
10 chapters for 3$
20 chapters for 10$
35 chapters for 20$
50 chapters for 30$
buyacoffee/Shashankbhatt
Patreon/Shahsank_bhatt
_________________________
[RIVERLANDS WOODS, FURTHER UP THE PATH]
[CATELYN weaves a wooden circle bound with twine. TALISA rides up and dismounts with the help of a soldier, her mount whinnying.]
"You're afraid of her. And she knows it."
"I'm not afraid of her. May I help you, Lady Stark?"
"No."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"You can't help because a mother makes one for her children to protect them. Only a mother can make them."
"You've made them before?"
"Twice."
"Did they work?"
"After a fashion. I prayed for my son Bran to survive his fall. Many years before that, one of the boys ca down with the pox."
Ned's brows furrowed, trying to rember which of his sons had co down with the pox. When the answer ca to him, he looked at his wife stunned.
But Catelyn said nothing, stubbornly staring at the wall.
"Maester Luwin said if he made it through the night, he'd live. But it would be a very long night. So I sat with him all through the darkness. Listened to his ragged little breaths, his coughing, his whimpering."
"Which boy?"
"Jon Snow."
"?!" Jon acted as if he was shocked. His cousins though were genuinely shocked.
"There is no other Jon Snow, is there" Catelyn said as a matter of factly, but did not even look at him once as she did so.
"When my husband brought that baby ho from the war, I couldn't bear to look at him. I didn't want to see those brown stranger's eyes staring up at . So I prayed to the gods, take him away. Make him die."
Lyanna's hands fisted in outrage, but Jon's grip on them stopped her from speaking. She looked at her son, who shook his head at her.
"She didn't know" he whispered.
Lyanna almost let a whimper escape her lips.
Instead of lashing out at Catelyn Stark, she embraced her son tightly.
"I'm so sorry you had to live like that" she whispered.
Jon simply patted her back as hugging back was awkward for him.
"He got the pox. And I knew I was the worst woman who ever lived. A murderer. I'd condemned this poor, innocent child to a horrible death all because I was jealous of his mother. A woman he didn't even know. So I prayed to all seven gods, let the boy live. Let him live and I'll love him. I'll be a mother to him. I'll beg my husband to give him a true na, to call him Stark and be done with it, to make him one of us."
"And he lived."
"And he lived. And I couldn't keep my promise. And everything that's happened since then all this horror that's co to my family it's all because I couldn't love a motherless child."
Catelyn's jaws set even tighter, hands fisting on her knees.
________________________
[NORTH OF THE WALL]
[The wildlings march through the mountains. JON and MANCE RAYDER stop to talk.]
Jon straightens on his seat, the earlier mood replaced by sourness.
"Was it hard for you to kill the Halfhand?"
"Yes."
"You liked him? I like you, but if you're playing us false, it won't be hard for to kill you. I've got wildling blood in my veins. These are my people."
"Does he?" Robb asked his father.
"I have heard rumours that he was sired from a wildling mother. I suppose they are true" Ned Stark shrugged,
"I understand."
"Well, how could you understand?"
"You want to protect your people."
"Do you know what it takes to unite 90 clans, half of whom want to massacre the other half for one insult or another? They speak seven different languages in my army. The Thenns hate the Hornfoots. The Hornfoots hate the ice-river clans. Everyone hates the cave people. So you know how I got moon worshippers and cannibals and giants to march together in the sa army?"
"He sounds a lot like Aegon the Conqueror" Shireen comnted.
Rhaegar turned to her alar.
"In what way?!" he asked sharply.
The girl shrinks before she straightens to et the dead prince's eyes.
"Aegon the Conqueror united the Seven Kingdoms-"
"Six. Dorne was yet to be brought in during his ti" Oberyn corrected with a smile.
"Six... He untied Six Kingdoms, each with their customs and preferences. I an that."
Rhaegar ponders for a mont.
"I see your point" he nods finally and looks away.
Shireen looks away as well, missing the look of pride in her father's eyes.
"I told them we were all going to die if we didn't get south. Because that's the truth."
"Well, not completely like Aegon. He threatened they would die if they didn't bend the knee" Jai pointed out with an easy smile.
Rhaegar just shook his head. Even after he told them the reason for the conquest, they were still blind to it.
[A CRAG NEXT TO THE MARCHING FORCES]
[MANCE and JON join TORMUND GIANTSBANE, YGRITTE, and ORREL. ORREL sits, eyes white, looking up to a raven.]
"Why is his eyes like that?" Bran asked.
"He is a warg. He is currently inhabiting the mind of an animal. An eagle to be exact" Jon explained.
"How do you know?" Arya asked.
"His eyes, when they are like that it ans he is Warging" Jon stated
Arya nodded her head and looked back towards the screen.
"Where were you this ti?"
[ORELL returns to consciousness.]
"The Fist of the First n."
"What did you see?"
"Dead crows."
A shiver ran down Robb's spine. Sam survived, so there could be more who survived with him.
[NORTH OF THE WALL]
[The Night's Watch march through the snow-covered mountains, looking exhausted. SAMWELL TARLY is drained. He falls to his knees. GRENN notices that SAM has given up. GRENN and DOLOROUS EDDISON TOLLETT walk back to him.]
Jon let out a sigh of relief. Survivors...
"I can't."
"If you stop, you'll die."
"Course if you don't stop, you'll probably die, too."
"Not helpful" Lyanna muttered with worry. She kind of liked Sam, he was a nice kid as can be.
"You don't care."
"Course we care."
"You left . When the white walkers ca, you left ."
"Aye, we left you. You're fat and you're slow. We didn't want to die."
"Fair assessnt" Tyrion muttered. It was logical, friend or not. He would do the sa. Perhaps... not if it was Jai.
[GRENN and DOLOROUS EDD try to help SAM to his feet. RAST cos back to the trio.]
"Looks like that piggy is done for."
"He's an. They all are." Tomn said with a frown. "Can we have Sam with us? He likes books, we have many books"
"I will... think about it" Tyrion answered. It wasn't the worst idea, to get the unfavoured son out of Randyll Tarly's hands and possibly have him owe House Lannister one. Plus, Sam was well educated. It would be nice to have another scholar for the company.
[LORD COMMANDER JEOR MORMONT cos back to see what is happening.]
"What is this? Get up, Tarly. Is he all right?"
"Aye, I think so."
"If he can't, we may as well just go without him."
"Fair" Oberyn nodded. "Cruel as it is, letting one man pull the group down in those conditions is suicide."
"That's enough. Tarly, I forbid you to die. Do you hear ?"
"I don't think him forbidding the boy would do any good if he is dying," Renly said with a chuckle, a light chuckle that barely had its usual vigour.
"Rast, you're responsible for him."
Tyrion snorted with amusent.
[WOODS IN THE NORTH]
[BRAN lies sleeping on so furs. A branch snaps in the distance and he wakes with a start. OSHA and SUMR are hunched and alert. OSHA has her makeshift spear at the ready. OSHA creeps forward and then runs into the woods. SUMR growls. A young figure approaches. He looks curiously at BRAN. SUMR growls more fiercely. From behind him, OSHA places her spearpoint on JOJEN's neck.]
"The boy from the dream!" Bran exclaid.
Ned frowed deeper. Now he really felt like he knew the face sohow, with that body structure too...
"I'm unard."
"That was poor planning."
"My sister carries the weapons."
[ERA REED appears quietly, slipping a knife to OSHA's throat and creating a stand-off.]
"Oh she's good," Oberyn said appreciatively, leaning forward with a smile. It was not always he saw capable female warriors up North. So far he'd seen two! And both in the viewing before him.
[OSHA releases the spear.]
"If you kill , that wolf will tear you to bits."
[SUMR continues to growl in warning. JOJEN approaches the direwolf.]
"You must be SUMR."
"He... knows Sumr?" Bran asks in confusion. How did he know sumr?
[SUMR imdiately stops growling. JOJEN holds out his hand. SUMR sniffs it and is pleased. The direwolf walks away. JOJEN approaches BRAN.]
"Well if the wolf trusts him..." Robb said unsure.
"I'm Jojen Reed. This is my sister era. We've co a long way to find you, Brandon. And we have much farther to go."
Ned snapped his fingers just as Lyanna gasped.
"Howland's children?!" she asked almost excitedly. She rembered the man, well the boy. He was young when she'd last seen him. A shy but upstanding individual. She liked him. His children no doubt would be like him too.
User Comments
0 comments from readers