14 Old Men of the North

298 AC, Castle Darry…

None knew who swung the first fist, but after the end of the deadly duel, a fight broke between the Northern and Western parties.

However, while the men were fighting each other and the king's men were trying to separate the groups, two grey cloaked men spirited away Lady Sansa Stark and her chained wolf.

By the time everything was settled down, the king was already gone, not wanting to deal with the aftermath. Instead, it was the commander of his guards, Ser Barristan Selmy who was forced to deal with it.

Despite the queen demanding the head of the newest noble of the North, there was no one willing to clash swords with the defeater of Ser Jaime Lannister.

Of course, Ser Barristan Selmy was not one to shy away from justice and duty. However, the boy before him was skilled enough to defeat one of his brother-in-arms and with the result of the duel his innocence was proven so the wishes of the queen were ignored by all of the influential people.

By the time the queen's thoughts were turned to the wolves, she realised that the Stark girl and her wolf were nowhere to be seen.

…

"Rody, that was awesome. First, you swung your sword and then hit him on the back of his knee! I won at least fifty golden coins by betting on you." Arya jumped up and down as she recounted the duel.

"Arya, enough." Lord Stark spoke with a stern face, "Go to your sister's room, we will be talking about important things."

"Yes, father." A pouting look took over Arya's face as she left the room while eyeing Rody with a glint in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Rody was staying silent, aware of the cold looks of Lord Stark. Of course, he had a right to duel for his life as the king was going to execute him, if not for him voicing out his request of a trial by combat. However, he also knew that the reason for Lord Stark's cold looks were not due to this.

"Your decision regarding the wolves and Jon was right. I want you to send Sansa's wolf with one of your men as well. However, send my orders to Jon to take the wolves to the North. Seeing what happened on the road, they won't be welcomed in the capital and will probably be used against us." Lord Stark said thoughtfully.

"I would die before letting them touch your family, my lord." Rody said.

Lord Stark nodded his head and let a small smile grace his face.

"Now, let us come to the matter of your duel. Congratulations, you proved your mettle with your sword. However, all eyes will be on you from now on." Lord Stark took a deep breath and his eyes grew sharp, "Though I do not like the game played in the South, it is not something I am foreign to. I saw plenty of games being played in the Vale. There are many knights and lords who hide behind the honour of the Vale to scheme against others. And the game played in King's Landing will be on higher bets."

"While you were busy clashing with Ser Jaime, I observed the looks of other nobles. Only the king, Ser Barristan and Lord Renly's party was happy to see you beat the Kingslayer." Lord Stark massaged his temples, "We didn't set foot on King's Landing, yet we are already gaining enemies."

A look of shame took over Rody's face as he thought it was his fault. However, Lord Stark was quick to remedy the situation, "Do not let it get into your head, there wasn't going to be any peace between Lannisters and us, anyway."

"I received words from our friends in King's Landing. The whole capital is filled with our enemies, from paymasters to the maids and guards…" Lord Stark rose from his seat and filled himself some wine, "They occupied every influential position after the death of Lord Arryn. Now, we are entering a nest of vipers."

"You must be wondering why I am telling you all of these, right?" Lord Stark asked.

"Honestly my lord, I am not good at politics so I don't think I would be able to offer you any advice in this regard." Rody spoke while lowering his head.

"Don't worry, you have a different role to play. You see, after the end of the war most of our men decided to return to the North. However, there were some Mountain Clansmen who decided to settle near the Isle of Gods. After all, the reason why they marched down was their age. They didn't want to become a burden to their families so not finding the death they seek, they decided to stay."

"They founded a fishing village. They are all Northerns and veterans of the previous war." Lord Stark retrieved a stone as big as his palm from his personal chest. The stone was covered in blood stains and there was a strange carving on it. "I want you to visit the village while we are traversing down the Kingsroad. Remind them of their oath to the North and call their able-bodied men to serve the North once again."

Lord Stark gave the stone to Rody, "Take this, it will help you to convince them."

"Our numbers are too low for Kings Landing, we need men who are loyal to the North and to my House. Leaving the North with a high number of men would have drawn attention but if these come down to King's Landing before we arrive, only a few will notice it." said Lord Stark.

"Then I will leave before the first lights of the sun shine over the castle, my lord." Rody nodded his head with a serious look on his face.

"So be it, now go and send word to Jon." Lord Stark spoke while pouring himself a glass of wine. "Ah, before I forget, take these coins. Considering how the Lannisters grasped the city with bribery, it will be easier going inside this way."

Rody rose to his feet and took the sack and bowed to Lord Stark. As soon as leaving the room, he left to find one of his men and had him pick up the direwolf of Lady Sansa.

Although Lady Sansa was quick to refuse, after Rody explained the situation and told him about the orders of Lord Stark, she gave way to reason.

Rody had the guard leave the castle with a chained direwolf silently, away from the prying eyes as he was afraid of some Lannister men following the guard to avenge the slight against their house.

After the deed was done and the lights of the sun were near to fade from the face of the earth, Rody retreated to his own room and laid down to rest.

His head was occupied with his duel as he thought about how he should have moved better and ended the duel sooner. Soon, his eyes grew weary as the exhaustion of the duel took over and he fell asleep.

…

Rody woke up even before the kitchen maids and made his way towards the small camp outside of the castle. He woke two of his men and told them to get ready while he himself went to prepare his horse.

They were out of the castle and its surroundings before the first sun fell down onto them. The men bemoaned in annoyance for waking at this ungodly hour but orders were orders and they had to obey.

Although Rody and his two men were on horses, it took them nearly two days of travel to reach their destination.

There were nearly hundred houses inside the village and every one of them looked new but the same thing could not be said of the occupants. Like Lord Stark said, the village was filled with old men idling around but there were also many young men and women doing odd jobs. Seeing three horsemen enter their village, one of the old men sitting before his house, muttered something inaudible to Rody.

Rody did not mind the stares and the gathering villagers and just continued to ride towards the centre of the village. On the other hand, his two men were looking around with nervous looks and their hands were on their swords.

Just as Rody reached before a white tree standing in the middle of the village, an old man and a young man came before him.

"What would a stranger seek from our poor village?" The young man was all smiles as he asked with a crooked common tongue that was even strange for the North.

Rody dismounted his horse and his men followed his lead. He wondered if he came to the right village as the accent of the man before him was foreign to every region he knew.

"We are searching for a village, filled to the brim with the men who lived in the harshest region in the North before leaving their home for the sake of their families. I wonder if we are in the right one." Rody said nonchalantly.

"I think you came to the wrong village, friend." said the young man while smiling, "There are only old men and some young lads like me in this village."

Rody sighed as he was sure that these men were the ones he was searching for. After all, the young man before him was very bad at lying despite the constant smile on his face, "Here I thought I was going to find a village filled with proper Northmen but I guess I was wrong."

His eyes wandered towards the white tree before him. Its colour was just like a bone but there were no leaves on it.

"A pretty tree, but a dead one." Rody said as he turned to the young man, "Are the men of this village dead as the tree?"

The young men surrounding the centre of the village were incensed at Rody's words as they literally snarled at him.

"I think you overstayed here, friend. It is time for you to go." The smile on the young man's face was gone and it was replaced by a stony face.

"I see the young ones have forgotten their roots, is it the same with the veterans of the Mountain?!!" Rody yelled as he looked at the old men around him who were looking at him with dead eyes.

One of the old men standing behind them spoke out in a strange but familiar language. Rody heard this language spoken by the wildlings he hunted down with his men. Only then did he realise that the old men staying in this village were coming from the depth of the North and they did not know any common tongue.

Before anyone could do anything, Rody took out the stone given to him by Lord Stark and raised it high enough for everyone to see. "Clansmen, this stone was given to me by Lord Stark. He bids you to remember your oaths and answer his call once again! He bids you to take arms and stand beside him once again! Will you answer his call or will you bury your oaths and betray your blood?!"

There was no one who did not hear the words of Rody and even if the words were foreign to the older members, there was a word they knew amongst those said, Stark…

"Magnar Stark," Rody uttered one of the words he learned from the wildlings he killed which meant 'lord' in common language. Rody showed the stone to the white bearded old man standing beside the young man.

The young man interpreted Rody's words to the old man while the old man's eyes grew wide. The old man straightened his humphed back and a fire burned over in his dead eyes. He turned around and roared out with a voice that couldn't come out of a man of his age, "Stark bjorda knora! Skagos Ghashkrum latob!!"

Several seconds passed as a silence took over the village. Then, the doors of the houses opened one by one and old men wielding axes, swords and spears came out.

Rody watched in awe as the centre of the village was filled with old men missing eyes, fingers and teeth. However, all of these men had something in common and that was experience. He knew if his men clashed against them they would have a hard time even against one of them.

Rody woke up from his shock as heard a grunting coming from behind him. He turned around and saw a hairy chest before his eyes…

*******************

AN: So what do you think about this new development?

Was it too AU?

Are the references for the past convincing enough?