[Chapter Size: 3000 Words.]
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Third Person POV
Winterfell, 298 AC.
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Ned immediately left with hurried and heavy steps through Winterfell's entrance, as he saw Jory approaching to say everything was ready.
"Ned!" A voice came from the side, and Ned saw his friend—or rather, the king—approaching him.
It was hard to see now in him that boy who had grown up in the Vale of Arryn with Jon Arryn; that same Robert was now a king, a man who had claimed the crown. But it seemed the crown had claimed him in return.
He had already noticed changes since the Greyjoy rebellion, but now they were too many. In just ten years since he last saw him, he had worsened so much.
Ned knew those thoughts shouldn't occupy his mind at that moment, so he shook his head, refocusing as he looked at his horse already prepared, surrounded by a large group of 100 Stark men waiting to depart.
"Ned, I'm talking to you!" the king demanded.
"Is it true there's a group of bandits trying to ambush your daughter?" Robert exclaimed, looking concerned.
The news had spread quickly as soon as the letter reached Robb's hands. His heir had swiftly gathered a large group of men, which had already been arranged with Arya beforehand, from what Ned had heard.
That enraged him, as he hadn't been informed of anything. Robb had taken fifty Stark men into the forest, seeking to hunt those who intended to harm his daughter.
As soon as the news reached his ears while he was in his solar, he had quickly stood up, shouting for more men to be prepared, along with his horse and sword.
Returning to reality at last, his gaze now fell upon his friend asking about his daughter, while Barristan Selmy positioned himself beside the king—the man with whom he had once discussed a rather delicate, dangerous, and even important matter.
But Ned put that aside and turned back to the king.
"Yes, Robert. It seems there's a group of men trying to ambush Arya," Ned said gently, as he walked toward the horse.
His friend came right behind, trying to walk as fast as he could, but couldn't manage much due to his size.
"Take my men too, Ned. I don't want anything to happen to the girl!" Rob exclaimed.
"There's no need. We don't have time, Robert. Arya also informed that there were thirty men, from what I've been told. And Robb already took fifty soldiers. I'm only going to verify things, with a hundred more men," he stated, while Robert merely nodded at the end, trusting his words.
Soon, Ned spurred his horse forward, galloping out through Winterfell's gates, followed by a hundred men. With Stark banners raised, they rode toward the Wolf's Wood.
That drew the attention of the entire castle, as balconies filled with curious gazes.
The queen seemed to have a slightly conflicted and confused expression from her window. She noticed something was wrong when the first group of men simply rode out the gates without warning, following the path Arya had entered through. She didn't understand why they had done that. And now, another hundred men with Lord Stark claimed there was a group trying to capture his daughter.
She wanted Arya dead. She wanted to show that girl what happens to those who cross her, who try to humiliate her constantly, those who think they're better than Cersei. She was fed up with that girl and wanted to eliminate her through the Faith, with whom she had been establishing some contact since their resurgence in King's Landing, trying to gain allies with the High Septon—which had been easy, through favors at court and gold.
She demanded that a group come to the North with the king's entourage and separate when the opportunity arose. One day, they left the king's soldiers and followed the orders of Lady Lannister, the queen.
Cersei passed information through trusted knights, relaying orders she hadn't even written—she had simply asked her subordinates to do it for her, making sure no evidence was left behind. And she expected to see the wild girl brought back dead, mutilated, where she would not hold back from displaying a triumphant smile.
But now things seemed to be getting a little unusual. Was she really killed? Had those men managed to finish the job? Did they burn the evidence? Would they all be killed without being questioned?
A nervousness emerged. The situation was slipping slightly out of control.
"No, let me go there," she thought. But that didn't last long. She believed everything was perfectly secure in her actions and that she had left no gap linking her to the plan, in case it failed.
She looked to the side and saw Catelyn Stark rushing to speak with the master-at-arms of Winterfell. She demanded answers. She seemed to still care about her daughter, which made Cersei roll her eyes. She herself had tried to make contact with Catelyn, to turn her against the Starks in a quest for revenge for what they had done to her. But the woman seemed quite firm, suspicious of her—which Cersei thought was complete idiocy and a waste of time. In the end, that woman deserved everything that had happened and was still happening to her.
Killing someone through traps and ambushes like Cersei did wasn't something new here—she had already done that with other families. She didn't show weakness like all the others she judged—be it Jaime, Robert, or others.
Even her father was showing weakness. But she would not do the same. She would not fear the land of the wildlings beyond the Wall. She would show everyone that she was ahead, smarter, more powerful, and would destroy all her enemies.
"Seems things are getting tense," Tyrion muttered upon hearing Catelyn Stark's desperation in the courtyard, questioning what was happening and whether her daughter was in danger.
Tyrion was with a few men—among them, the Hound and his beloved nephew. They had been observing training during a break, until all the chaos began.
"Hope she dies," Joffrey's venomous voice muttered, still wrapped in bandages from the wounds Arya had inflicted with her Valyrian steel blade.
His mortal hatred for her even spread throughout his entire family. He himself felt disgust even toward Sansa and showed it more openly, thinking the girl a fool.
"I think you should show a bit more respect to the Starks, my dear nephew," Tyrion mocked, as Joffrey cast him a venomous, rage-filled look.
"What? You don't agree? What do you say, Hound?" Tyrion teased his nephew's glare and turned his attention to the guard.
Sandor Clegane only looked at him, growling through his teeth, but said nothing.
Meanwhile, in the forest...
"We won't say a word, bunch of heretics!" the man spat, while his companion beside him tried to keep a firm gaze as well. The third didn't look so good, bleeding from his arm while sobbing—he had been bitten by a giant wolf.
"You don't need to say much," Arya approached with a serious look as she glanced at the forest and Nymeria appeared, bringing a bag full of dirt, which made two of the men slightly startled.
"You really thought I wouldn't find out you were hiding your letters and evidence? You should've burned them," Arya mocked.
"You're using magic... dark magic, heretic! You'll burn in the seven hells!" one of the men spat at Arya, glaring with hatred as he saw her controlling her terrifying wolf. But he was interrupted by a thin blade touching his neck and pressing back, almost sinking in.
"You'd best watch your words, fool. Dare speak to someone from my family like that again, and you'll lose your head."
The man only looked at Robb Stark with anger, but said nothing more, while Arya looked into the letters inside the bag. They had planned to retrieve them later, after the ambush, but wanted to keep them to confirm their contacts and agreements, hiding them in the middle of the forest—nothing Nymeria couldn't fetch later.
"What do we have here?" Arya announced, picking up a letter.
"Look at this... there's a letter from the queen. Maybe not written by her, but it seems to contain instructions issued by her, according to the author of this letter." Arya laughed at that, knowing he would be in quite a bad position now.
"If... if that's true..." Robb approached Arya with a shocked expression. Even the Stark men seemed to frown at hearing it.
"See for yourself, brother." Arya handed the letter to Robb, while she rummaged through a few more things in the bag, picking up more letters and reading.
"Either way, there's not much else to do here. We should return to Winterfell. Father is already on his way here as we speak," Arya said, meeting Robb and then checking on the wounded men. Three from their group had been killed by those Faith fanatics.
In the end, they began tying up the three who were still alive and brought them back to Winterfell, already tied to a horse, being forced to walk.
It didn't take long before they saw a cavalry coming toward them, with their father emerging, sword held in hand, while Lord Stark kept hold of his horse's reins. He looked relieved to see the entire group—especially his children—safe and sound.
A wave of relief began to run through Lord Stark's heart.
"What's the situation?" he asked, stopping, as the entire party came to a halt as well.
"Almost all dealt with, Father," Robb stepped forward—and when he said dealt with, he meant killed.
"We lost three men, and a dozen of ours were wounded. They weren't using heavy weapons, and they didn't have much training either, so it was easy to handle," Robb said, realizing the group had only been a gang of troublemakers.
House Stark was different this year, Ned felt it. Anyone who tried something against them would have to face a terrible wolf.
His gaze followed, coldly analyzing the men, who trembled in the chill.
No wonder the North is so rarely conquered, for its people know how to handle the cold, while those from the South struggle to manage the same, giving them a disadvantage in battles fought against the Andals.
Lord Stark nodded to his children.
"That's good. Anything else? Were the bodies left behind?" Ned asked.
"Yes, all the bodies are about 700 meters from here. You'll find them along this line of the forest," Robb explained, while Ned already felt the stiffness in his gaze turn toward his daughter, with an intense, furious look.
At the same time, Arya simply shrank a little and gave a sheepish smile.
"What did you think you were doing?" he demanded.
"Why didn't you tell me when we were in my solar this morning?"
"It was all under control, Father. I didn't want to raise alarm and risk our ambushers fleeing if they noticed something was wrong." Arya justified, while Jill stood silently beside her.
"Notice something was wrong, Arya? You must be joking with me! You already got into that fight against that Faceless Man, and now you're risking yourself again, going after people trying to ambush you in the forest! And still, you went alone! Gods, I know you were here at least twenty minutes before Robb showed up with a full group!" he growled, giving a stern lecture, while no one else said a word. Even Robb remained silent, looking between his sister and his father.
"Sorry," Arya murmured, looking ashamed. Her father was already fed up with the freedom his daughter had. Even if he couldn't control many of her actions, he would not allow her to take risks like this.
"We'll talk about your punishment when we get back to Winterfell. Either way, what do we have? I'm sure you had a good reason to try to handle this alone in the forest with just a guard and..."
His gaze turned to the direwolf, staring at him.
So large compared to the horses that surrounded her with caution—though they were already used to it. At the same time, the wolves of his other children weren't big enough to follow them as Nymeria did with Arya,
"...and a terrible, grown direwolf," he murmured carefully at the end, as he mentioned her.
Arya sighed.
"I wanted to get this bag. They didn't panic enough to destroy the evidence, so they buried everything. I guess they're lucky Nymeria has a good nose to find it," Arya replied, as if it were obvious—something she had already seen by spying on the group through birds.
Ned huffed, knowing his daughter all too well. In the past year, he had gained enough experience to know she had been investigating this group for days. Still, seeing her take such risks was too much.
Either way, his children were safe, and Arya seemed satisfied with the proof—and he also wanted to know who had set this up with her.
Ned then turned to his guard, Jory.
"I want you to organize the men to bring the dead bodies back to Winterfell. For now, we'll take the three my children captured," Ned said at last, turning back, as his men began to move. One group returned into the forest, while the main group headed to Winterfell, with Lord Stark riding beside his children in silence, still frustrated.
"Father, don't be so angry. Everything went fine," Arya broke the silence, while even Robb didn't have the courage to say a single word, seeing their father so furious.
Everyone knew Arya was a rather delicate subject, as she seemed to put herself in danger all the time. And also... Robb didn't share in his sister's enthusiasm—he always stood by their father's side. He couldn't say he approved of his sister's actions.
Ned heard his daughter and gave her a scorching look, full of anger and concern. Arya realized she couldn't say much, so she fell silent, giving only a small sheepish smile in return, saying nothing else. He was still her father, and he was still worried about her, so she couldn't keep being stubborn all the time.
Winterfell soon came into view as they emerged from the last trees of the forest and followed the road.
"Father, I know you won't want to hear this, but... take this letter," Arya approached and handed him the same letter she had read. It was best he knew how to deal with the evidence before the king tried to make any judgment in Winterfell.
Clearly, Ned's expression upon seeing the letter was anything but pleasant. It was frustrated, full of rage, but also carried something complicated in his eyes. He soon looked sternly at his daughter and handed the paper back.
"We'll deal with it," he simply said, in a dry tone that made even Robb and Arya glance at each other. Their father was furious, and that indifferent tone after the revelation said it all.
"We received letters from Jon," Ned spoke again, still dryly, while Arya quickly raised an eyebrow.
"They arrived a while after you left. I haven't opened mine yet—I was waiting for us to do it together."
"His answers finally arrived. I'm glad," she said with enthusiasm, but Ned didn't seem to share the same feeling, only nodding his head.
"We also have the arrival of Willas Tyrell in about an hour. They're already in Stark territory," he informed.
"I see," the siblings murmured.
The walls of Winterfell stood before them shortly after, and they quickly rode through the gates, as the crowd grew with rumors already spreading everywhere. Arya could see her mother's desperate look among the tears, waiting for them.
She had come to check if they were all right.
It was strange. That woman was capable of doing horrible things, but Arya had to admit that when it came to family, she was willing to do anything. That's what made her so dangerous—she didn't think about the consequences of her actions, as long as she could protect those she loved, the world could burn.
Through the windows, Arya could also see the queen. Her gaze was worried and full of frustration. Frustration at seeing her alive.
"Well... this will be interesting," Arya was now ready to step into a storm of political chaos and see how it would unfold.
Obviously, she already had a few plans for the queen after everything that had happened with Mearin, her companion from the Watch. What had happened in the forest only fueled that tenfold.
"Ned, what's the situation?" the king's booming voice rang out through the courtyard as he approached, nearly stumbling over his own feet. He had great difficulty standing due to his weight—but the bottle in his hand might explain it.
He was drunk, from what Arya could tell.
Ned frowned, his expression dark. He had only been gone for a couple dozen minutes, and his friend was already drunk, which made him even more frustrated.
"It turns out they really tried to go after my daughter, Robert. And they're Faith militants. Did they come North with your entourage?" Ned asked, his look serious.
"What? Those bastards?! Well, I can't say I didn't see a few of them. I thought they came to preach their nonsense. But... they attacked her?" he asked, confused, as Ned already nodded.
"They intended to. It was thanks to my daughter being more clever than sensible that she went into that forest somewhat prepared. She managed to get a message to her older brother to bring men. They already launched an attack on the group," Ned said.
"Ha!" the king suddenly burst out laughing.
"Just like little Lyanna!" he began to laugh, looking at Arya, while the girl only sighed and Ned kept a dark expression, even more frustrated, as the king had simply forgotten that they tried to kill his daughter.
In the end, he said nothing more about it and returned to more important matters after a sigh.
"Well, let's prepare the evidence. We'll hold a trial after we deal with House Tyrell, who is about to arrive," Ned informed, as everyone nodded.
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