A Long Time Ago

(AN: Gonna try do this scene in 3rd person apologises if it is inconsistent or maybe I say "I" or "me" at some point)

(Location: Tower of Joy)

(Time: Afternoon)

Lord Eddard Stark can be seen approaching the Tower of joy with his Bannermen, Howland Reed, Ethan Glover, Mark Ryswell, Theo Wull, Martyn Cassel and William Dustin.

From information they had gotten from the Spider, though through what means this intelligence was gathered is unknown they discovered that Rhaegar Targaryen has placed Eddards captured sister Lyanna in a place in Dorne called the tower of joy.

A grim expression can be found on Lord Starks face as he discovers a question he'd been asking himself for weeks.

'If Arthur Dayne wasn't at the trident then where was he'

This question is now answered as the three remaining loyal kings guard can be seen sitting outside the tower to Lord Stark they look akin to prison guards making sure their charge does not escape.

As the seven companions rode up to the tower of joy the calm and collected members of the kings guard each stood up from where they were seated and approached the riders.

Leading them was Arthur Dayne the one known as the Sword of the Morning, the most talented swordsman in in Westeros.

On his right was The White Bull Gerold Hightower, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. A veteran in combat as well as someone who distinguished himself during the war of the Ninepenny Kings. He was accepted into the order by Ser Duncan the Tall a man reputed to be a true knight which says a lot of his character.

On his left was Oswell Whent, apart from Arthur there was never a man more loyal to Rhaegar Targaryen. Though the degree of fanaticism can be argued.

These men stand here the remnants of the broken Targaryen kingdom intending to follow their orders to the death.

"I looked for you on the trident" Lord Stark says in a neutral tone as he walks up to the golden trio.

"We were not there" replied Gerold Hightower.

"Woe to the usurper if we had been" Added Oswell Whent with a sneer in his voice as he spits on the floor in front of the rebels.

"When King's Landing fell, Ser Jaime slew your king with a golden sword, and I wondered where you were." Lord Stark stated.

"Far away,"Gerold said, "or Aerys would yet sit the Iron Throne, and our false brother would burn in seven hells."

"I came down on Storm's End to lift the siege," Lord Stark told them, "and the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne dipped their banners, and all their knights bent the knee to pledge us fealty. I was certain you would be among them."

"Our knees do not bend easily," said Arthur.

"Ser Willem Darry is fled to Dragonstone with your queen and Prince Viserys. I thought you might have sailed with him." Said the young Stark Lord with no small amount of confusion.

"Ser Willem is a good man, and true," said Ser Oswell.

"But not of the Kingsguard,"Gerold pointed out. "The Kingsguard does not flee."

"Then, or now," said Arthur. He donned his helm, and took Dawn out of the ground where it was placed.

"We swore a vow," explained Gerold in a clear voice as he lifted his head up high.

The kingsguard getting were void of any emotion as they prepared themselves for what could be their final fight, Lord Starks bannermen stepped to his side not entirely confident about their chances of killing some of the greatest knights to ever live in Westeros.

"And now it begins" states Arthur as he twirls his sword in his hand and gets into a fighting stance, his two brothers beside him doing the same.

"No, now it ends" states Lord Stark in a cold voice as he and his companions each draw their weapon and charge what used to be the heroes of the realm.

With a scream one of the stark men charge Arthur with his sword held high and brings it down as if he was going to shatter the earth with it, Arthur parry's his strike and with a quick riposte skewers the man in the chest, as pulls his sword out he flourishes it in a circular motion and cuts the man's head clean off.

Shock could only describe what the bannermen feel now, in less than 5 seconds the Sword of the Morning had just cut down one of their men, it is one thing to have a reputation for being a great swordsman but seeing an example of it puts matters into perspective.

Then all bell breaks lose as three men attack the legendary swordsman while the rest split themselves up against the other two.

The white bull was a formidable fighter but his age had caught up to him and he simply could not keep up with the young stark lord and ended up over extending his swing leading him to getting impaled in the stomach with his Valyrian steel sword.

While Ser Oswell managed to put up a lot more of a fight killing two of the stark men he simply wasn't as good a swordsman as the other two and he was cut down by Howland Reed.

Arthur had not been idle while his two brothers were killed and had managed to kill two of his three attackers with the last one barely hanging on as he was fully focusing on defence.

"Martyn, Howland, Keep him distracted" shouted Lord Stark as he put his sword in the ground.

Arthur looked confused as the young stark just stood there but shook it off as he blocked and overhead strike from Martyn and grabbed his arm pulled him close and knee'd him in the stomach, then pivoted behind him and sliced his back open.

Martyn screamed in pain as he feel down and Howland started to feel dread as he stood alone against this herald of death.

Before any fight could happen one of the horses that the companions had ridden on charged Arthur from behind, before he could fully turn around to defend himself it went up on two legs and kicked him in the head.

A man would most likely be dead when hit with such force but kingsguard armour is some of the best in the kingdom so it only managed to knock him out.

The last thing Arthur saw before the light left his eyes was the milky white eyes of the horse that attacked him.

(Arthur POV)

I woke up with my arms tied behind my back and Howland Reed holding a sword to my neck.

Eddard Stark was sitting in front of me on a small boulder with slightly red eyes and a grim expression on his face, he was holding a baby.

My eyes widened as I realised who this was but before I could say anything he spoke.

"She's gone" Eddard croaks out in a pained voice as he keeps looking at the ground.

It pained me to hear such words, getting to know Lyanna and being her friend was a pleasure that I'd never forget I don't think I'd ever find her like again.

"Is the king healthy" I ask trying to ignore the painful feelings Lyanna's death was bringing me by sticking to my duty.

"My Nephew is fine" Lord stark says putting emphasis when he states 'nephew'.

"He will not be your king, he will come home with his family to Winterfell and I will raise him as my baseborn son" Eddard said as he looked at the baby as he slept.

"Surely you can't mean to raise him as a bastard" I say anger filling my veins almost forgetting the sadness that Lyanna's death had brought me, I struggle with the ropes until I'm reminded of the cold steel pressed against my throat, I then still myself and try to be calm.

"That baby is heir to the Iron Throne one of the last men in House Targaryen, he deserves better than to be called your bastard" I say with venom in my voice

"I promised Lyanna he'd be safe" Eddard states in a morose tone as he looks at me in the eyes.

"I know Lyanna she would not of just made you promise that, what else did you promise!" I shout at Lord Stark

"This conversation is over" Eddard says as he stands up with cold eyes.

"What did you promise Ned!!!" I shout not believing that the only thing she wanted for him was to be safe.

"I truly wished id be able to embody what I was taught by my foster father and be honourable, but this war truly has made me tired" he says with a sad smile on his face.

"Ned what did she say to you!!!" I beg him to tell me as I manage to cut myself a bit on the sword Howland held at my neck as I was thrashing around.

"I'm sorry Arthur, I know you won't tell Robert about about the baby lest he share the same fate as his siblings, but I don't want to kill you, so I will turn you other to Robert and recommend exile" Eddard said in a regretful tone as he was facing me unflinchingly

"Perhaps we would've been brothers in another life" he says before walking away.

I then feel a knock to my head and I fall unconscious.

(Present Day)

"When I had awoken I was being carted back to Kings Landing tied with bother hands to either end of the cart" I say to Jon while we jog together through the forest.

"Robert Baratheon was full of rage when he found out I was one of the people guarding Lyanna and wanted to crush my head with his war hammer right there in the throne room" I continue.

"Luckily Ned and Jon Arryn managed to convince him to settle for exile" I say with an angry expression.

"Though Robert decided that wasn't enough punishment and without the other twos knowledge, sold me to a wise master for the fighting pits" I say with disgust.

"How did you even get here" Jon asks with curiosity as we both continue weaving through trees and bushes.

"It took many years before I was able to earn my freedom, a swordsman of my calibre is not something the wise masters wanted to let go, but eventually I managed it and when I did the first thing I did was sneak back into Westeros and reclaim my sword"

"But why would you do that?" Jon asks while looking at me.

"Because I needed to be at my best if I was going to guard my king" I say looking back at him.

Jon looks away from me and focus' back on where we are running to. I can tell he does not wholly believe what I'm saying or maybe life as a bastard has destroyed his self worth to the point where this seems to fantastical to be true.

"That doesn't explain why you're here" Jon states with a small amount of suspicion as he narrows his eyes at me.

"I've been following you around for the past year Jon, I followed you to White Harbour and I followed you onto the boat" I say steeling myself up to reveal the truth.

"I'm the reason the boat was ship wrecked in the first place" I say looking back to Jon as I saw the shocked expression on his face.

"I know you have questions" I say before he can speak.

"But it's almost nightfall and we have to get to my camp before then" I say cutting off any further conversation as we continue to run.

(Sansa POV)

"Look ginger girl" Rhaenys says to me in a serious tone while grabbing my shoulder.

"I already said my name is Sansa" I say angrily as I shake her hand off my shoulder.

"Pfffft I won't remember that, too many S's" Rhaenys says while snorting and crossing her arms.

"But seriously, when the sunsets and the night comes out you're going to see some very horrible things that will probably stay with you until the day the stranger comes to take you" she says looking me dead in the eyes.

"But make sure not to scream, they hate it when women scream something about the high pitch sound really hurts their ears" she continues.

"Well something like that I can't say I really understand much of what they say even after a year being here" Rhaenys says while smiling and rubbing the back of her head.

"A year!!" I say loudly in shock before a stinging pain hits my cheek.

"Shut the Fuck up" Rhaenys says in a whisper as she slaps me and then covers my mouth.

I calm down and take a deep breath and then nod my head to confirm to her that I'm calm.

"Why have they kept you around this long" Sansa inquires in a quiet voice.

"The ritual" she states in a neutral tone as she looks away from me and points to an alter in the middle of camp.

"From what I've found our and the very little other prisoners have told me, there are two types of natives to Sothoryos" she says looking back at me.

"The Sothoryi which usually live on the coast as it's the easiest part to live in, and in the deeper parts of the jungle you find our lovely captors who are the brindlemen" she says in a light tone as she lectures me.

"From what I know Sothoryi can't mate with people from Westeros but they can mate with each other, but the brindlemen are entirely infertile. She continues

"That doesn't make sense they would of died off if that was the case" I say matter of factly.

"You'd think so wouldn't you? But every year they perform a ritual in order to get some of their females pregnant" she says her light tone dropping.

"As difficult as it is to believe it's true, I've seen it happen, there is no gestation period either their stomach swells until they look like they're about to pop and then the baby just comes out" Rhaenys states.

"Kind of puts one off being a mother" her light tone returning.

"What does the ritual have to do with us" I ask a bit confused "How are we involved in the ritual" I continue.

She points back to the alter in the middle of the camp smiles darkly at me.

"You see right there? In a few weeks one of us will be chosen, we will be strapped to the later and their version of a septa will use the ceremonial dagger and stab from where our cunt is right to where our stomach is, they will remove our womb and the woman getting pregnant will eat it while the tribe holds hands and pray while swaying their bodies" she says not dropping the smile an inch.

I am horrified at what she is describing to me so much so that I have lost the ability to talk.

"Don't worry though until they find a man who isn't from the tribe and isn't infertile we should be fine, we that's an important part of the ritual" She says while patting me on the head.

Still finding it hard to find my words I start to wonder why this ritual needs to happen so often.

With a croak in my voice I manage to ask "B-b-ut wouldn't the children be fertile sometimes if their father is" I squeak out.

Rhaenys looks up at the sky for a second and then back to me " with the god they perform the ritual to I'm afraid they'd never be able to reproduce, life cannot come from death she says before looking back at the sky.

"They worship the stranger?" Sansa says in a confused tone.

'I didn't think the faith of the seven was followed outside of the seven kingdoms' I think to myself.

"No, no not the stranger for death is just a part of the great cycle" she says before continuing "It is hard to put into words in the common tongue but I was a little inaccurate when I said life cannot come from death, a more accurate version would be you cannot make something out of nothing, and that's who their god is" she states while rubbing her head.

Feeling a little more paranoid i ask "What is their god called"

"Hmm, yes this I know since another prisoner told me a while ago" she says with a wide smile.

"In their language it's something very hard to pronounce so I won't even try, but the closest translation to the common tongue is Great Other" she says calmly.

I feel a chill go down my spine as I remember all of the stories Old Nan told me when I was younger and I start to feel like I'm about to pass out as my breathing goes heavy, Rhaenys looks at me for a second then smiles.

"Hey, want to play a game I learned in Essos'

(AN: hope my 3rd person didn't suck tbf nothing much really changed just ya boy Arthur surviving, if you all wonder why rhaenys is calm it'll all be explained. Hope you like my chapter let me know what you think)