Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Words: 1500

Hours later, Jon and Ygritte were meeting Stannis, his advisors and Leaf inside Winterfell's godswood. Jon wanted to discuss the other reason he called the Baratheons up to Winterfell in a more private setting. "So its these white walkers who are the real threat to the realm" Melisandre said.

"Yes" Jon replied. "Stannis, according to the children, you are another potential candidate for the prince who was promised."

"I thought I certainly was the prince who was promised" Baratheon replied, casting a wary glance towards Melisandre. It was her prophecies that said so, or at least her interpretation of them.

"It is almost impossible to perfectly predict the future" Leaf said. "But I can say you are one of the possible ones it could be."

"This is the other reason I called you up here" Jon said. "I'm fully aware of your more dishonorable actions during the war against the lannisters, including engaging in a blood ritual to try to ensure my brother's death. But the way I see it, you are no more guilty of killing him than Theon Greyjoy is. We need to work together to fight the white walkers."

But as Jon continued to discuss his plans with the Baratheons, Ygritte noticed something from the corner of her sight. She turned and saw a figure standing near a tree with something in their hands. Her eyes widened when she saw it was a crossbow, and that they were aiming at Jon.

"NOOOOO!"

Ygritte cried out and threw herself forward, knocking Jon out of the way just as the assassin fired. The bolt that was meant for Jon instead was buried in her chest, causing her to collapse on top of the man she loved. "YGRITTE" Jon cried out when he saw what had happened. Stannis leapt to his feet, drawing his sword and charging the assassin.

"Guards" Leaf shouted as loud as she could, hoping some of the people outside the godswood could hear. "Block the entrance!"

Jon cradled Ygritte after pulling the arrow out of her chest, ignoring the chaos that was forming at the entrance of is home's most sacred site. He pressed down on the wound, trying to stop the blood.

"Ygritte! Ygritte, listen to me! You can't die! Please!"

Ygritte looked into her lover's eyes as she reached up to touch his face. "Jon, this is one order I can't follow."

"No! You are not going to die on me!"

"I'm afraid I am. I... I love you, your kneelership."

"I love you too."

Ygritte smiled one last time, and then her hand fell to the side as she breathed her last breath.

Jon stormed into Winterfell's great hall to see a crowd of people gathered around two of his remaining kingsguard. Between his guards was the assassin who murdered Ygritte as well as Stannis. The Baratheon king had tried to chase the man down, only to be fatally wounded by a throwing knife. Following his capture, the assassin was attacked by Tormund who beat the killer almost to the point of death for what happened to his former clansman. Not since he learned of Robb's death had Jon been this furious. Reaching the assassin, he grabbed the assailant by the hair and forced him to look him in the eye.

"Who hired you?!"

The assassin didn't say a word. He merely looked back at Jon, matching the rage on the monarch's face. Jon released the man's hair and swung the hardest punch he could, knocking a few of the man's teeth out.

"You killed two people in my home, one of whom meant a great deal to me! I will get the identity of your employer, but your way of dying depends on whether you cooperate or not."

The assassin continued to stare before finally speaking up. "Doran Martell. He felt you were a living insult to his sister, so he wanted me to get rid of you."

"LIAR!"

Arianne pushed her way through the crowd, causing the assassin's eyes to go wide in shock.

"My father sent me here to speak with the king in the north! He would never try something like this!"

Jon turned to the crowd. "Leaf!" The child of the forest stepped forward. "I need you to look into this filth's mind and tell me who ordered him to attack me."

Leaf approached the now terrified prisoner and grabbed him by the forehead, her eyes going milky white. Seconds later, she let go. "It was Joffrey Waters. Tywin Lannister's grandson ordered him to try to kill you, Jon."

"I should've known" Jon said. He then turned towards Ygritte's murderer. "You had your chance. Now your death will be agonizing."

Minutes later, the assassin was thrown into the kennels and locked in. Jon and his siblings were all present on the other side of the cage doors to watch their prisoner's demise. The assassin turned around when he heard a low snarl. Ghost, Summer and Shaggydog stepped out of the shadows, each one looking hungrily at the prisoner before them. Ghost was the one who got the first bite, and soon all three siblings were tearing at the assassin as they slowly ate him alive.

A few hours later, Jon was in Winterfell's great hall with Sansa, Bran, Arya and Tyrion. Mance Rayder, Tormund and Leaf were also present. They were all trying to comfort each other at the loss of Ygritte. Jon loved her, and Mance and Tormund knew her for years. Her death was a terrible loss for them all.

"I didn't know Ygritte well" Arya said. "However, I know she will want us to move on. We should mourn her, though we should also keep going forward."

"Agreed" Sansa said. "I must say though, it is strange that Joffrey did this. Yes, he is a tyrant and our opponent, but he is also an idiot. I can't see how Joffrey would go behind his grandfather's back and do this."

"He didn't" Leaf said. All turned towards her.

"You said Joffrey sent the assassin" Bran said.

"He did" Leaf replied. "However, it was not actually his idea. The one who came up with the idea was someone named Petyr Baelish."

"Baelish" Tyrion asked. "I know him. He's the master of coin in king's landing. He is widely suspected to have his own spy network in Westeros just like Varys. Are you sure he is behind this?"

"Yes. I saw it all when I looked into the assassin's mind. It was also his idea that the assassin try to frame Dorne in case he got caught."

"I think I remember him" Sansa said. "I may have seen him a few times. But why would he do something like this?"

"Wait" Arya said. "Wasn't Baelish the one who challenged uncle Brandon for mother's hand?"

Arya's statement triggered a memory for Jon. Of course!

"Wait" Mance said. "What is this? Your mother knew this Baelish?"

"Yes" Sansa said, remembering the story as well. "Petyr Baelsih had grown up with our mother. When she was betrothed to our uncle Brandon Stark, he challenged him for the right to marry her and lost, though mother stopped Uncle Brandon from killing him. Brandon was later killed by the mad king, leaving mother to be married to father instead."

"But that still doesn't explain why he would go after Jon" Bran said.

"No, but I think I can" Tyrion said. "Littlefinger, that's his nickname, was in on the betrayal of your father in king's landing. Its partially his fault Lord Stark was killed. He might have been afraid Jon would find out and add him to his list of people to go after."

"It sounds to me like your mother should have let this Littlefinger die when she had the chance" Tormund said.

The group's conversation was interrupted by a knock on one of the side doors. Jon answered it to find the maester holding a particularly fat letter.

"Your grace, this just arrived for you."

"Thank you." Jon took the letter and opened it to find it was a letter sealed with what looked like a diagram of some kind.

"It's from Sam. He says... oh you have got to be kidding me!"

"What is it?" Arya asked.

"The Lannisters bullied the maesters at the citadel to build a weapon that is meant to kill Blizzard."

Jon walked over to his solar's table and laid out the plans. The weapon looked like a ballista of some kind, but it was the bolt that really got Jon and Tyrion's attention. It had a container built into the head that was said to hold...

"Wildfire. My father seems to be going crazy" Tyrion said.

"But this doesn't make sense" Arya said. "Wildfire may be extremely explosive, but it would need something to ignite it first."

"They already figured it out" Jon said. "These plans say that between the bolt's head and the container is a pouch filled with loose shards of platinum. The idea is that when the bolt hits something, the platinum shards will be banged together so hard and fast that it'll cause a spark of flame."

"Thus igniting the wildfire" Tyrion finished "and causing whatever it hits to die in an explosion."