[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV.
White Harbor.
...
...
"Lord Manderly. It seems this is the first time we've met." Daemon commented calmly, watching the men shrink at the sound of his voice.
"Your Majesty, we tried to keep what Your Majesty asked of us." said the man cautiously after hearing what Daemon had said earlier about the barns.
Daemon narrowed his eyes. "I imagine so, Lord Manderly. I just wonder why your barns are emptier than they should be." Daemon said, keeping his gaze fixed on the man.
"My king, my father had no choice. We had to give part of our reserves to Stannis's army; otherwise, our city would have been looted. We are outnumbered. We hoped that Your Majesty would intervene and resolve the situation." explained the man.
"Even so, you did not ask for my help and disobeyed my request. I will not retaliate — I just want a few things: that you return what was taken from me. You of House Manderly will have to pay. I'm sure you can already make a request directly to the representative of the Iron Bank before they leave the city. And I'll want at least five times what was taken from me." Daemon was firm.
Daemon seemed harsh, but they had disobeyed the king's orders; they could have asked and didn't — it was an order given more than a year ago.
"House Manderly will pay for everything." said the man hesitantly. Wendel seemed willing to accept; in the end, Daemon felt he had agreed.
"Very well. Then prepare your men. The representatives of the Iron Bank will go to Winterfell to represent House Manderly; I will also ensure safe passage through Stannis's camp and will oversee everything." ordered Daemon.
The man hesitated, but in the end, it didn't seem like a negotiation: it was an order from a man with a giant dragon behind him, staring him down. Who, in their right mind, would deny any request from someone like that in the Seven Kingdoms?
"Now you may go. I want to settle something once and for all. Call Lord Stark — I wish to speak with my dear uncle." Daemon said, making Wendel look as if Daemon wanted to kill Lord Stark, though his tone suggested otherwise.
In the end, the man stepped away, stopping to speak with Lord Stark, who was still scolding his daughter for running away. Arya heard Lord Manderly and looked at Daemon.
Lord Stark did the same, swallowed hard, seemed worried, but moved forward, advancing to where Daemon stood.
Daemon kept his gaze fixed the entire time, stopping about five meters away from him.
"Daemon Targaryen." He murmured his name once more, but without making the mistake of calling him Jon again, knowing his nephew would not allow it.
"Hello, Lord Stark. Honestly, this was not the scene I was looking for." Daemon began, glancing at the men of the city over Lord Stark's shoulders.
"Indeed, I came all the way here and we meet again, but in the end I am very disappointed; after all, I thought I would find you behind an army against me. I thought you would have the army of the North to fight me; I imagined our meeting would be on a battlefield, and that I would have the chance to kill you in a battle, but finding you here... it's frustrating..." Daemon said in a tone of boredom — however, it was not a lie. Lord Stark could not help but sigh.
"I cannot give you the war you want, Daemon." He replied, keeping his gaze fixed on his nephew, ignoring the dragon behind Daemon beginning to snarl at Lord Stark.
"I know. What I find now is a man hiding and without much support. Your son destroyed the very army of the North, down in the south, along with those traitors the Boltons and their allies. However, I am not satisfied with just that. What I wanted was a war, not for it to end like this — can you understand how that is somewhat frustrating, dear uncle?" Daemon said, arching an eyebrow at Ned.
Lord Stark listened in silence and remained for a few seconds. Then he finally spoke, wanting to know which course they would take from there.
"And how does this end, Daemon?" Lord Stark then asked.
Daemon broke into a smile, despite still being frustrated. He had to end this somewhere. "Very simple: you will report everything that happened to me in Winterfell. Not a word less about my childhood. You will tell the truth — the anger you had against my parents, how you treated me and how you wanted to punish me." Daemon paused.
"You will demand a trial by combat and face me. That will be your way of paying your debts to me: a fair fight against me, your sword against mine in the yard of Winterfell. I do not intend to use tricks, magic, or transformations; if you want to know, I will return only with my skills." Daemon said, firmly.
Lord Stark stared at him in silence; with a little conflict on his face. Even without magic, Daemon was already feared for his abilities; even without magic, it seemed suicide for anyone who tried to face him.
"If you think I will harm your children for not accepting this, you are mistaken. However, I will make you pay in other ways. At least you will have the honor of a fair fight and a chance to survive." Daemon said, keeping his gaze fixed on his uncle, contempt in his eyes.
Lord Stark still seemed hesitant.
"Anyway, this is my way of dealing with you at the moment. Since we will not have our war, you will fight me before all the North." Daemon concluded.
"And will I die by your hands?" Lord Stark asked in a dry tone.
"Depends on my mood." Daemon mocked him. "If you do what I ask, I may rethink sparing you and send you to the Wall — we need men there." Lord Stark nodded upon hearing that.
"Very well. You will have that fight." Lord Stark said, even though he had a chance of dying.
"Great. I will arrange for you to join with the representatives of the Iron Bank to go to Winterfell along with Lord Wendel. You may take your daughter; I will guarantee your safety. Also, if Lord Royce and the other lords of the Vale wish to accompany you, I see no problem, but that is not their matter. The lords of the North speak for the North, though I am also their king." Daemon declared.
"I understand. If you will guarantee safety for me and my daughter, then we will go to Winterfell." Lord Stark replied, trusting Daemon after what happened in King's Landing.
"I heard your conversation with Arya about my children. You said you didn't know how Sansa was in King's Landing, but are you sure you have no news of her?" Daemon asked, worried — he could be happy that all four of his children except Sansa were in the North, but the absence of his eldest daughter in the south tormented him night after night.
"No, she is not well." Daemon confessed. "She has been suffering abuse, small aggressions, both from the bastard and the bastard's mother, the queen mother." Daemon said, although he knew the queen was insane because of him — but he did not comment further.
Lord Stark was quite concerned upon hearing that. "Even if I die in our fight, can you guarantee that you will manage to rescue Sansa and try to protect her?" Lord Stark asked, hoping Daemon would do something; "After all, you are still family, of the same blood."
"Yes, we share the same blood. However, you did not seem to care about that when I was living a miserable life under your roof, did you?" Daemon replied, bitterly. "You now come seeking excuses and asking others for help."
Lord Stark flinched at hearing that.
"Anyway, I will try to do everything for her, even if she betrayed you — as we have already spoken about in King's Landing, and even if she deserves some punishment. Still, I intend to bring her back alive from King's Landing, or at least I will do my best for that. You have my word." Daemon declared.
Lord Stark could not demand more there.
"Anyway, I am returning to Winterfell; I will only stay to ensure you have passage through Stannis's army." Daemon said. He turned; his dragon understood.
The beast began to lower itself, knocking more tiles from the warehouse it had been on; it descended to the ground as it placed each of its legs in front, making the port's wood creak under its weight. Lord Stark had no choice but to hurriedly step back, fearing the huge animal. Daemon then walked to it, climbed one of its wings, and settled on its back.
"The next time we speak, it will be in Winterfell. I will be waiting for you out there; you have one hour to leave this city." With that, the dragon raised its wings, beat them hard to gain control, and shot off over the port.
Daemon circled the city with the beast, which watched him from below, and returned outside the gates; it landed again at some distance from Stannis's camp.
He called some of his birds that were already there to spy and wrote a letter with the quill and ink he had with him on parchment; it was brief, demanding from Daemon that Stannis authorize Lord Stark, Lord Manderly and the representatives of the Iron Bank to pass, warning that he should not interfere.
Otherwise, the dragon would begin to burn the camp — it might not kill twenty thousand men, but it would certainly cause chaos and Daemon would have many days to hunt the rest. Besides Stannis, he sent messages to three other officers in the camp, so that no one would do anything foolish in the face of the threat of a dragon.
After the four birds flew to Stannis's camp, Daemon simply waited. It was after an hour that the gate finally opened. There was no show of force from Stannis's men; he trusted that the commander would do nothing.
A group of more than sixty people left White Harbor and advanced, while the men of Stannis's camp stood still. They did not attack — they only watched — and so they gained more confidence. Then the outer camp made way for them as they headed north.
Lord Stark could not stop looking at his nephew from a distance, staring at him atop that dragon.
"Father, what does he intend to do with you…?" his daughter's voice sounded at his side, worried, while Stark sighed.
"Daemon and I have come to an agreement, but that does not matter now." he replied.
"But he's not that bad, right? He's helping my brothers…" Arya said, thoughtful. "His anger is only directed at you."
"That's true. His anger is aimed at me, and I must bear it." Lord Stark admitted, casting a look ahead when he saw a bald man staring at him in the middle of the way.
"Lord Stark." Stannis greeted.
"Lord Baratheon." Lord Stark returned.
"You have a rather angry nephew." Stannis said, knowing of the antipathy Daemon had for his uncle. Lord Stark only gave a somewhat sad smile.
"Nothing I do not deserve." Lord Stark confessed, resigned. There was no point in lying; he himself had said he would tell the truth in Winterfell.
Stannis raised an eyebrow. "If that is so, until we meet again — if that is possible." he said, and then the men continued on. Arya looked even more worried; even Lord Royce and Lord Wendel Manderly stared at him, but kept their gaze steady. Ned would at least try to atone for some of his sins; he had decided to go to Winterfell.
Daemon saw this and felt satisfied to decide to depart. However, he would remain there, sending some birds to check if there would be problems; with Stannis not sending any group after Lord Stark.
The dragon beat its wings, flew over the group on the way to Winterfell and disappeared on the horizon, heading north.
Daemon did not turn left, where Winterfell would be; first he wanted to see another person. He headed toward the huge group coming from the south — it was time to fetch his aunt.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!
I hope each chapter has provided incredible moments. 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 same time, 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 become a free member on the platform!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
Extra Content Already Available:
🏴☠️ One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game 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!
👑 Game of Thrones: DragonBorn! 30 extra chapters!
Except for One Piece with daily chapters and DragonBorn once a week, all fanfics are updated 3 times 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!!
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆