Chapter 11: The North Remembers
AN: Yeah, I got no excuse. I have been meaning to post new chapters but I just couldn't focus and actually put words on digital paper. Honestly I just want to apologise and say that there will be more chapters coming soon, I promise. If I am being completely honest my brain had been creating new stories in my head so I couldn't focus on this story. Once again sorry and I hope you enjoy
Daeron POV
I woke up due to some movement beside me making me look to my left and see Laena twisting and turning on the bed, covered only with our bedsheet. I smiled before turning and hugging her close to my body. It's been around two and a half months since we got married and almost every night has been us either fucking or cuddling. I remember our first night vividly, we fucked almost all night and just had a fantastic night that led to her not being able to walk properly, which was embarrassing when we had to go to family dinner the next day. I shook my head of the lewd thoughts that were gathering and gently kissed her shoulder before standing up and putting on some proper clothes. I cracked my neck and thought to myself
'And now to deal with the ass kissers'
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"And how are our food supplies doing?"
Well, we just had the royal wedding so they are on the lower side but we are expecting food from the Reach soon."
I sighed and grumbled for a bit before saying
"We rely too much on outside assistance for food…Someone bring me a map"
I heard some rustling before a Dragons guard member had unfurled a map in front of me. I looked at it for a bit before saying
"I want a portion of the Kingswoods to be cut down and made into farmland. Do not cut down every tree as that would do more harm than good but make sure that where I mark there will mostly just be dirt. I do not want to hear anyone complain. I want you to just hear my words and follow them. Understood?"
""Yes my Prince""
They all said but I could see they were mostly confused with my orders honestly how has no one thought 'Hey if trees grow here then the ground must be pretty fertile' But I digress. I looked over the room and said
"Also, Lord Beesbury. I am going to leave you with a list of resources that I want you to procure for me. I want these resources in bulk as they will be important for a project that I want to do."
"My Prince, sorry for asking but why do you need these Stones for? And does the King know about this?"
"Lord Beesbury, my father has said that I should do most of the ruling while he is this sick. So I want you to treat my words as his, understood?"
"Yes, My Prince"
"Good, now I am also planning on travelling to the north while Laena goes home to visit her parents. In the meantime, I plan on leaving Tyland in charge in case anything bad happens while I am away."
I turned to Tyland and saw that he had given me a nod while the other lords looked a bit hesitant. I quickly dismissed them before turning to a corner of the room and saying
"Anything I need to be worried about before I enter the North…Myseria"
"Other than the current Stark heir's Uncle trying to claim himself as the next Lord Stark, no not much. In other news, my people spotted Otto meeting Jason Lannister and them discussing something. My people did hear mention that Otto planned on travelling to Sunspear first and then east"
I nodded for a bit before leaning back in my seat and saying
"Send word to our allies in Dorne, the preparation must hurry up. And if your news are correct, which I am sure they are, we need to initiate our plan earlier than anticipated."
"By your command, my Prince"
"Good. How is little Visaena?"
I saw Myseria smile a bit before saying
"She is good, but wants to meet her Uncle Daeron"
I smiled and said
"I'll meet her when I get back from the North. I don't plan on staying for long, but you never know what will happen. Plus, I think it would be a good idea to help Cregan Stark to gain back power. I mean, it would certainly make him indebted to me for a long time. That can then turn into an undying loyalty when I help his house gain riches and new ways to earn money."
"Always the master manipulator, My Prince"
"You are one to talk, Myseria"
She laughed dryly while I stood up and said
"Well, time to get ready for the North"
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I held my wife's hand while she stood by the ship that was about to depart for Driftmark. I gave it a kiss and said
"I'll miss you, Laena. I know why you are going to meet your parents but I still find it rather sad that you can not just leave with me to the North"
She laughed before pulling me into an embrace and saying
"You know better than I that the cold does not agree with me. Plus…I felt the news I need to give is something better-done face to face."
I placed my hand on her stomach before sighing, placing my head on hers and inhaling her scent deeply. I then whispered
"You'll be careful, won't you. Make sure not to do anything straining"
She sighed happily in my chest while tracing my abs up and down before saying
"Of course, I will make sure to be safe. Plus, with the amount of Dragon guards you have placed on the ship to protect me, I feel sorry for anyone that would even attempt anything"
I only groaned and said
"If I didn't need him, I would send Neltharion with you to protect you. I swear, that overgrown lizard protects you more than me as of late"
She laughs in my arms before saying
"Well, I'm carrying precious cargo while you are just what…the next King of the Seven Kingdoms…I don't know, seems like I am more important"
I laughed loudly, drawing some attention to us before I said
"Well, I couldn't agree more. You are definitely more important than me, my wife"
She quickly gave me a kiss before saying
"Well…I need to go now, we should make the trip while the sun is high in the air"
"Mmh, alright. I love you, Laena"
"And I love you, Daeron"
I kissed her again before my men came and escorted her onto the ship. I watched the ship leave before sighing in sadness and heading towards the Dragon pit.
"Fucking hell…I don't want to go the North alone"
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Timeskip
Narrator pov
"DRAGON!!"
"DRAGON!!"
Bennard held his breath as he stared at the massive black dragon that had caused panic in Winterfell like never seen before. His gaze went from the dragon's toxic green eyes all the way to its midnight black spiked green tail. Bennard had always been a jealous person, jealous of his brother for being the heir and jealous of the Targaryens for having dragons and all the power they wielded so when he saw the massive dragon the crown prince was riding, along with the regal and mighty aura the prince already had, his jealousy took over. He saw the prince climb down the large dragon before walking straight to Bennard, ignoring all of the bowing guards. Bennard put on a forced smile that did little to hide the green envy in his grey eyes as he said
Daeron pov
"Welcome to Winterfell My Prince. I must say I was not expecting your visit, after all, we received no raven from Kings Landing"
"Ahhhh, well, that is because I didn't send one. I came here on an unofficial visit to meet Lord Stark and help him make the North more powerful. So could you tell me where Lord Stark is?"
Bennard shifted a little, probably excited about these plans of mine as word had already spread about my successful farming on Dragonstone and I was getting letters from many lords asking how my 'giants steps' worked. He gave me a smile and said
"Well, my Prince, you are looking at Lord Stark"
I gave him a one-over and said
"No, I do not believe I am. You are but the brother of the previous Stark Lord. I am looking for the actual Lord Stark, Cregan If I remember correctly"
I swear I could see his face turn red as he tried to hold in all of the negative words he wanted to spew at me before he took a deep breath to control himself and said
"Ahh yes, little Cregan. Well, I am sorry to inform you but he is quite sick at the moment so you will have to meet with me instead. I am the Lord Regent until Cregan is of age."
"Ahh so only for 5 more months?"
"...heh yes my prince"
"Alright, well I still want to meet Lord Stark as this is something that will affect the North for a long time so I think it is better to talk with him about this"
"...Of course, My Prince"
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I looked around the room and saw that Cregan was in his bed pretending to be sick. I walked to him before looking around the room and saw two guards who were most likely in service of Bennard and would relay what I said in this meeting to him. I put on my stern prince face, and some of my conqueror's haki, and said
"You two may leave now. And that is my princely command"
The two guards started sweating a bit before bowing and leaving, and almost seconds after they left Cregan sat up straight and said
"So you figured out what was going on, my Prince"
"Aye, it was quite obvious when you were not there to greet me, Lord Stark. I know you northerners are quite strict when it comes to keeping your word, and even sickness won't stop you from doing your duty. Now tell me everything that has happened and we shall go on from there"
"How do I know I can trust you, I am sorry my prince but we have never even exchanged so much as a greeting."
I looked at Cregan and looked at him and thought
'I get it I guess. I wouldn't just automatically trust someone instantly after meeting them, no matter their rank even if I am below them. He puts his loyalty to his house and men first and that is something that I can respect'
I cleared my throat and said
"You are a good man, Cregan, so I will grant you this one slight. Your father swore an oath to me when I was declared the Crown prince and said that he would bow to me when I become king, and one thing you must know about me is the fact that I take care of my people. I will admit and say that my master of whispers had relayed to me some rumours of Bennard trying to take your birthright so I decided to do a little surprise visit. It was quite clear what was happening so, while I am here, I need to honour your late father's promise to me and take care of my own"
I finished speaking and thought
'Well I just made myself look like a saint to get the North's undying loyalty, but honestly, it is worth it. Now the Greens lose a potential ally in Bennard and I, most likely, gain an undying loyalty in Cregan which will pass down generations
And almost like I predicted it, Cregan gained an awed look on his face as he jumped out of bed and said
"My Prince, I know my father already gave you his loyalty but allow me to once more reinforce those words so that the loyalty between our houses can remain strong for many generations to come"
I gave him a smile and a nod and he said the exact same thing as his father did some years before him. He stood up and we did the classic Viking handshake, gripping each other's forearms as I said
"Well, let's get rid of a usurping traitor shall we?"
Cergan smiled and said
"Aye, my prince."
—-----------------------------------------------------------
Daeron pov
A couple of days had passed since me and Cregan hatched our plot and I knew that today would be the day that we would remove Bennard from his usurped role. I stood in a random hallway and looked out at the mass of horses riding to Winterfell. I smirked as I drew Blackfyre, I had opted to leave my sword 'Dragonslayer' back at the Red Keep and turned around to see 5 guards approaching me. I heard their clanking of armour the 5 guards that were loyal to Bennard ran up to me and the head one shouted
"Prince Daeron put down your blade and surrender by order of Lord Stark!"
I just smirked at them and said
"Do you really think that I would listen to dogs that betray their master for the highest bidder? If you even want to make me try to surrender then put up your blades and prepare to meet your gods"
The two younger men in the back were looking at me in fear as they knew my reputation and had heard the songs sung about me and my battles at the Stepstones. The older three men all just sneered at me and the leader said
"Please, without your dragon you are nothing!"
The three then ran at me bringing their swords up and getting ready to slash me apart. I just smirked before I deflected the first blade with lightning-like reflexes and almost immediately after brought my sword down through his leather helmet and his head. He collapsed instantly with the two other guards also bringing their swords down to attempt to hurt me. I just blocked both of their strikes before Sparta kicking one man with a lot of my strength breaking all of his ribs and most likely collapsing a lung. The other guy tried to overpower me and push his sword down on mine but, it was quite futile. I let his sword slip off of mine causing him to start tripping down and landing him in a bowed position, which I took advantage of and used my Valyrian steel sword and cut him in half.
"So…What are you going to do now?"
I looked at the two younger men and saw they were both shivering in fear, one of them said
"Mercy… please, my Prince, we wanted nothing to do with this"
I just chuckled and said
"I am not the one who will be your judge, that would be Lord Stark. It is up to him to decide your fate"
They both nodded before I walked towards the guy I had kicked, who lay on the ground wheezing as he couldn't breathe. I looked at him and without hesitation plunged my sword through his heart. I sheath my sword and quickly looked at the two young men and said
"Do you have any rope?"
One of them said
"Aye, we do my Prince"
"Give it to me"
So he handed me their rope and I quickly put them into a tight bind before saying
"Stay here, I will send for some guards to fetch you after the battle is done"
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Narrator POV
In front of the Winterfell gates a massive fight was going on between the loyal Stark bannermen and the guards loyal to Bennard and it was quite the one-sided fight with the guards being thrashed by the bannermen. However, inside Winterfell Daeron, Cregan and some loyal guards were fighting against the men loyal to Bennard and were easily winning. After a while of fighting Daeron yelled at Cregan
"Let's go and catch Bennard before he has the opportunity to escape!!"
"Aye"
So Daeron and Cregan started sprinting to the office where Bennard most likely was. After entering the office we saw Bennard sitting in his chair and looking out the window. Bennard didn't turn around but just said
"Heh, I guess ambition only gets you so far. How ironic, I thought of you both as incapable. I thought of Cregan as a boy who would spell the end of the Stark legacy. I thought I could bypass all of the loyalties of every house under the Stark banner with the promise of more riches but all I managed to do was dishonour everything our family stands for."
Daeron sheathed his sword, tapped Cregan forward and said
"This is on you, you make the decision"
Cregan walked forward and said
"Uncle Bennard, for attempting to usurp my rightful claim as Lord Stark I sentence you…to death"