Chapter Eleven
A month had passed since the lords of the north knew the truth about the one they called king in the north, but they did not care and went on their way, of course, it was also the loss of one of the lords of Winterfell, their relatives came to Winterfell asking what had happened to Ludd Whitehill, but protecting what had happened, all commented that the lord of house Whitehill had never come to Winterfell.
As a drastic measure, Harry searched for the said lord, so that his relatives would believe the tale. And not far from Winterfell, where the woods were thicker, traces of blood and clothing were found that were similar to what Lord Whitehill wore the day he came to Winterfell to claim something. This meant that there was a very dangerous animal in the woods that had to be hunted as soon as possible, after that the work was done, the special to find the animal was not made to wait, but in a very short time, they were left to see that nothing of high danger was found which gave to understand that it was people who attacked the lord. With that laid on the table, Ludd's relatives never asked about him again, as Harry knew his sons wished him dead so that they would have more power once the Boltons got Winterfell if they got it of course.
Benjen BlackStark, formerly nicknamed, The Wolf Cub, looked intently at the port of the wolf and the bear, in this port could be 200 ships of great size, as it was practically as big as the one the Karstarks owned. It started from Sea Dragon Paint and ended at Bear Island it was the entire Ice Bay harbor, it could be said to be the largest of all the harbors and where 75 ships were currently located, including the Black Pearl and the Silent Mary.
Currently, the only ship that left the port more frequently was the Pearl, since its captain was Barbossa, in charge of destroying the iron fleet that approached the north, along with the Pearl, five tugboats, small ships that were used to move what was left of the ships that were destroyed by the Pearl, so that their parts could be used. And with that, rumors were already heard that a ghost ship with black sails, traveled the seas to destroy every ship that left the iron island since the Greyjoy killed all the crew and they sought revenge, something that of course, Barbossa loved because it meant that he was afraid of him, a ghost crew, also did not help the fog that was near the ice bay, which certainly helps to hide the port.
Dacey BlackStark, formerly Mormont watched her husband who was intently observing his niece's sword practice, yes Artemisia lived with them as she was Barbossa's ward, so Benjen was in charge of making sure his niece's apprenticeship was the perfect one. No doubt he took his job very seriously, he just wanted to see what was going to happen when Benjen had a daughter, as he was very overprotective, just imagining how protective he was of Artemisia and Mya who was not his blood nieces, gave him to imagine when Lyanna his blood niece would grow up and become a woman, or of course have a daughter.
No one was going to wish to mess with Benjen, knowing she was pregnant brought much happiness to the now so-called black wolf, as he had planned to join the night's watch, which was a Stark natural. But Harry would not let him, and she had to thank him, for she met an excellent man, and now they were going to start a family, so good was fate for her, that she was not only with a good man but also close to bear island, for as the Starks had their motto, the Mormonts always wished to be close to bear island.
- "Darling, a little one has arrived for little Artemisia" - Dacey approached her husband, who was a little alarmed as getting to where she was, surely was very tiring for her, as she was eight months pregnant, but even with a pregnancy, the Mormonts never wished to look weak - "Don't be upset... they helped me down the stairs."
- "Even so... I can't stop worrying, your pregnancy is very risky, Maester Qyburn and Marwyn, came to the castle exclusively to see that everything goes well, the best midwives in the north are just so that neither the baby nor you are in danger" - Benjen knew exactly why it was so, Harry told her that she was having twins, so he had to be attentive to everything, she did not have to strain herself, so he sent practically to her left hands so that everything goes well.
- "Even if you're right, I can't, in my blood runs the strength of a Mormont, always see us strong, as my mother told me" - Dacey sat down, and stood watching with a smile as her lord husband bent down to kiss her on the forehead, while he touched her stomach, it was a short time to have little wolves already running around the castle or maybe little bears, after all, her son could come out as a Stark or as a Mormont - "Go deliver his gift to Artemisia, I'll be watching from here."
Benjen smiled and left the place, while Dacey watched the fight that Artemisia and Barbossa were having, both were using wooden swords, while Artemisia had two swords, as that was the Persian way of fighting, Barbossa only had one and it was obvious that he had the advantage because of the dirty way he fought.
For Barbossa was not afraid to use his fists, in a fight anything was a weapon, and even more so when your life could be in danger, of course, he did not hit her with great force, for although he denied it he liked the little girl very much. It was like having the daughter he never had, he wished he had a girl as fierce as Artemisia, dangerous and he wasn't afraid to say what he thought, without a doubt it was true, a northerner with southern blood, although no one would say that in front of her because for him, she was a northerner who for life's sake was born in the wrong place. Only Southerners tried to speak properly, they tried to do things as nobly as possible, even if they hid their true intentions, the north was not like that, and for that reason, they considered them savages because they didn't play games, he liked that.
- "Please girl, I don't understand how you could kill those fucking Ironborn if you live on the ground" - I wasn't going to deny that Artemisia was a good fighter, the iron born weren't used to the Persian style of fighting with two swords, which could be swapped for any other weapon, combined with the speed and agility they possessed, but Barbossa liked to piss off the blue-eyed she-wolf, as she was called - "You think I'll let you captain the wondrous pearl if you can't even land a blow on me."
- "I'm going to cut your head off, put it in a bowl and you'll have to watch for the rest of your pathetic life how I'm a better captain than you" - Artemisia when she is angry she forgot several things like that was impossible, but it was what made her special, her anger, being angry in many occasions made her evolve a lot, until now the only one who knew how to use that potential to the fullest was Harry, he realized in a very short time that Artemisia needed to be angry to reach her highest potential.
- "And how will you do it, you never beat me, you're lucky I can't count, or maybe I can, but I lost count of how many times I defeated you" - Barbossa irritated Artemisia much more, who went from being on the ground to standing, and began to try to kill the captain of the pearl, with a wooden sword, of course, it was easy for Barbossa, to dodge such attacks, but in an oversight, showing his flexibility, he hit the hand with which Barbossa held his sword, and was preparing to deliver the supposed coup de grace, but Barbossa beat her to it and grabbed both her hands - "You lack speed girl" - And Barbossa began to turn, as Artemisia did not weigh much for the man, it was very easy to make her turn and then throw her to where the horse food was, where there was also a certain redhead who was sharpening his axe - "Why don't you take care of feeding the horses, you're good at it. ...Hahaha."
- "Why don't you give up, you can't beat him" - Tormund was sharpening his axe, one of his many weapons, it was his second favorite weapon after his mace, as he could crush the heads of his enemies, although he could also split them in half, so he looked after his weapons with a lot of love.
- "Why don't you shut up, red-headed shit, go lick a giant's balls" - Artemisia looked at Tormund in irritation, she wasn't in a good mood to listen to the red-headed man and even more because she was losing again against Barbossa, which meant that she wasn't ready to captain the pearl - "Maybe all red-headed men are idiots."
- "You're wrong, we redheads are beautiful, we're kissed by fire" - Tormund proudly, who from what Artemisia saw was already about to start talking like a madman - "Because you don't drink milk from a giantess, you'll grow as strong as me..." - Without a second's hesitation, the red-haired man passed his horn, which was full of the said milk, to be rejected by the red-haired woman - "But for me..."
- "Fuck you Tormund" - Artemisia didn't hesitate to show her displeasure, but she changed when she saw her uncle Benjen, approaching, forcibly, having the Stark surname, she had to show herself as a lady at some point, even if it was only to annoy her since she hated those protocols -"Uncle Ben, something happened?"
- "Your brother sent you a gift" - Benjen pointed to the cage where two reddish wolves were, they were puppies, so Artemisia had to take care of them so they would grow up, the curious thing was that the two wolves were attentive to Artemisia, and she to them, as if they were connected, which made him have a question in his mind, was Harry going to have his wolves or his future children, were they going to have wolves or bears, many questions and few answers - "Harry says to take care of them, you have to feed them properly and clean them. ...he sent you the note with the care they require."
.
Moat Cailin
Eddard Stark, better known as Ned, was a little concerned about what was happening with his father-in-law, Harry had informed him that the Tullys were giving too many liberties to the Greyjoys.
Catelyn spoke to her father, but her letters were never answered, so conflict was inevitable, Catelyn even though she loved her family, she had to be with the North, it was currently her family and more so because her father was angry with her, for refusing to marry Brandon, and although her father planned to have the power of the north, she did not agree, she fell in love with Eddard and destroyed her father's plans, she did not like to be used in such a way, she was a woman who was very well trained in politics. She was not a warrior like many northern women, but she helped a great deal in terms of politics. Ashara, Elia, and Catelyn were the women she was meant to move in that field, though Catelyn only wished to focus on stopping her father's attempts to seize power in the north, the worst of which was that she could not take money from the north as they began to self-supply.
Eddard and Catelyn watched the situation with concern, they both knew that Harry would not shake his hand in invading the Riverlands and getting rid of the Greyjoys, the only reason why he did nothing was that it was not the time, according to Harry a war would break out at some point, as the Greyjoys wanted to return to what they were before, and now that the dragons were no longer in power, why would they kneel before a deer.
So Harry would bide his time when that war started, and as the Greyjoys thought they were the naval force of the seas, they thought they were on their battlefield, sadly it was something Harry was going to destroy, he was going to destroy the Ironborn on their battlefield, he was going to humiliate them. He was the perfect definition of a wolf waiting patiently to bare his fangs and deliver the coup de grace to these people.
And it wasn't the only one that had the two of them worried, Harry asked them to decide what their house motto would be, the Karstarks who were cousins to the Starks, had as their motto The Winter Sun, while his brother Benjen, having a black wolf as his emblem decided that his motto would be, We Are The Darkness Of Winter.
When a vassal house is created, it can have a motto somewhat similar to the main house, an example was the same as Stark, all his vassal houses could use the word winter. Although they were not obliged to, it was a way of saying that they were related to that family, so Eddard had to think carefully about what motto to put on the new house.
Right now he sincerely preferred that the Greyjoys start the war, as his nephew was very strict on these matters, a house could not be without a motto and he was giving him the choice. It was the house that was protecting the border with the south, the only way where someone could enter the north, because in other places it was better not to approach as they would be dead, so in his motto, he had to take into account all those details, well he wanted to know in his motto that to cross to the north, the wall to protect the north, that's where the new motto could start.
Moat Cailin was the linchpin for the Southerners to get north, and the Northerners to get south, though there was a big difference with the Northerners, who knew their lands, they could pass anywhere they wished.
- "I got it" - Eddard Stark had the perfect motto, with that, Moat Cailin was a Bastion most feared by the dreams, just as winter was for the northerners, and they were to lead the northern forces through the south, as well as the dreams through the north - "The Way of Winter."
.
Port Kart.
Rickard Karstark was watching how everything was going in his port, but more so waiting for a certain ship, for that ship was on a very important mission, the Lord of House Stark had learned that the King's hand had borrowed ten thousand gold dragons from the Iron Bank. An extremely clever move on the part of the hand since who else could lend the gold, the Lannisters would gain more power if they lent that gold, and knowing that the crown did not know how to repay it, and they were coming north, it was very difficult that Harry was going to lend him the gold.
But Lord Stark wished to indebt the crown so that they would lend him the gold, the north was currently very wealthy, but he did not wish to give them the gold but to make sure that the gold sent by the iron bank never reached the king's landing. For that reason, one of the most destructive ships was to intercept that cargo, and two tugs in case there was anything left of the ship, which he doubted, for the captain who commanded that ship left only wreckage and nothing but that, and it was for that reason that Harry Stark placed him as captain of the Flying Dutchman.
And the beautiful and at the same time terrifying ship arrived at the port, and along with it the two tugboats that brought what was left of the ship, no doubt the builders of the Glovers house were going to have a lot of work, something that the captain had already accustomed to.
He had a small rivalry against the captains of the Pearl and the Revenge, since one of them left a ship in a bad state, the others when they heard that tried to leave the ships that the tugs brought more destroyed, but it was not something for Harry to intercede since they were ships that were going to be destroyed eventually and only the parts that the builders thought were perfect were going to be used, while the other pieces were going to serve as firewood or another use depending on their state.
Davy Jones got off the ship, to find Richard who was serious as always, but the lord of house Karstark was a good person, who saw all the good and bad in people, considerate at times, and someone who would not hesitate to destroy what was wrong, and if he was ever in the wrong, he would do what he could to clean up his mistake.
- "Mission accomplished, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, we didn't leave anyone alive, but if anyone was spared? I doubt very much he knows it was us" - David looked at the flag on his ship, he was forced to put the symbol of house Greyjoy on this job, something that practically made him curse all the way, he hated the Greyjoys, he was an Iron born, but he hated them for everything they did to his family, his greatest wish was to kill three Greyjoys so badly that their names were forbidden in Dutch - "I hope the Dutchman doesn't have that flag anymore. The next time you see that flag it will surely be full of blood"
Richard watched as the sails with the Krakens emblem were taken out, and practically thrown to the ground, as the Northerners did not get on very well with the Ironborn, and they were all waiting for the moment to attack them, Harry made it clear to them, that the Ironborn would be the first to feel the wrath of the North.
.
The Dominion (High Garden)
A feast day for House Tyrell, it was the birthday of Olenna Tyrell, the personification of power in the Dominion, a most astute person who sought the quietest way to gain power, without resorting to violence or taking such drastic measures as rising against the crown as her foolish son once thought, who did not see what was happening around him. When the Targaryens lost control of the kingdoms, only two kingdoms sided with the dragons, while four kingdoms went against the crown, and the lion stood by and waited for the right moment to give victory to the one who of course had the greater advantage.
Olenna disagreed with supporting the Targaryens, for she was wise enough to realize that the danger lay not in Robert Baratheon's army, but in the West. On his mountain the great golden lion was watching how the battle was going, when the battle of the Trident gave a victor, the lion made his decision, and so could the Tyrells but his adored son had to agree throughout the war to Storm's End.
Luckily, thanks to her, things were no great loss, as she was able to quietly quell the revolt that some of the Dominion houses were trying to make when they realized that her son was not smart enough to rule.
Luckily her grandchildren were special, for when they were able to take their first steps, Olenna began to teach them, giving her son little time to give her any advice, for he was sure to be stupid, but he was not a bad father, he was a highly intelligent man, but he did not know how to rule, that was a big problem, too ambitious for too little brains as Olenna said of her son, he was too afraid of his mother.
On the other hand, Margaery received something that undoubtedly made a big smile light up her face, from the north came a necklace with a black gemstone. With that gift came a letter written exclusively by Lord Harry Stark, which made her smile unique at the moment, the person she most wanted to meet, and so many questions she wanted to know.
Two years after she knew she was to be betrothed to the new Lord of the North, she thought he was going to send her a letter instantly, but no, it took her two years to receive a letter from him, something that never happened, as she always received letters from most of the lords of the realms, to give up her marriage to the North, as they would give her a better life.
Margaery was excited on the one hand, but at the same time she feared what might happen in the future, she was ambitious, and she would not deny it, she wanted power, and the way things were going her betrothed was going to have great power. For currently the eyes of the other kingdoms were turned toward the north.
The weakest kingdom no longer wished to be weak, the wolf no longer wished to be in its cage and all the other northern lords were following the wolf, if she spent all this time informing herself, practicing, and analyzing her political possibilities, in the north.
She knew that to be accepted in the North, she had to leave the Faith of the seven, something she thought was good on the one hand because the Southern faith was expensive, which was not the case in the North, the old gods only wanted the Arcian trees to be cared for and nothing more than that, something she could tolerate because first of all she would not have to pay money to the septs of the faith, Secondly she needed to show that she was strong, the northern Lady's are to test the other Lady's, an example would be Ashara Stark, the mother of her betrothed, a politically ruthless person, being raised in Dorne she was taught how to seduce men as it was the supposed main weapon of women, which many proved not to be that way, Elia Martell and Ashara Stark.
- "My beloved granddaughter, even though it is this old woman's birthday you keep thinking of the North, has the wolf already captured your heart?"
Of course, it was Olenna's little joke, she knew her granddaughter thought ahead of everything she would do, and she did not doubt her manipulative abilities, but she was about to enter an extremely difficult terrain, where practically everyone was going to see her as an enemy.
Margaery gave a small smile, on the one hand, her grandmother was right, the wolf captivated her attention, but not her heart, the curiosity she had to meet Harry and know what he was like, what kind of person, how he acted, how he reigned in the north, was something that caught her attention. They were both the same age, but where she was a princess in her kingdom, he was the one who ruled in the north, she was aware that he only had two small problems in the north, but apparently, it was no big deal, she wanted to know how he dealt with those problems.
The information was vitally important because you could use it to your advantage, it was like a game of chess, if you know how your opponent moves, no matter what moves he makes, you will always be at an advantage because you know exactly how he plays, every move he will make, or what he is thinking of doing to get out of danger. But if you're up against someone whose thinking you don't know completely, that was very bad news from any point of view, because it meant that you didn't have the advantage and you had to adapt to the way your opponent was playing, and an adaptation was an extremely difficult thing to do because it meant changing your plans.
- "Actually, the crown has completely lost its balance, when I become Lord Stark's wife, I can turn the north against the Crown and take the throne" - Margaery wished to be queen, it was an ambition she had because she had to stay only as the princess of the roses, or the wolf's betrothed, she wished to be queen, to have the power to control everything - "But for that, I have to control Harry."
- "Margaery, seducing Harry Stark will be difficult for you, not impossible, but difficult, he is not like the other children who came and asked to undo the marriage" - Olenna was sure that the boy had plans, and for that reason, she waited so long to send a letter to her granddaughter, she was sure that no matter how many requests her granddaughter received, they would not be able to accept them, - "He knows that we can't get rid of the marriage between you and him, he knows that many are interested in you, from the first moment, he asked for you, without knowing you, just so we can't act against him."
- "You think he knows I'll try to manipulate him," - Margaery looked at her grandmother calmly, though her smile said she was more anxious, which, though it might not seem so, the more difficult the surroundings meant she had to make an effort, easy things didn't appeal to her after all, - "You think he knows all that."
- "We can't get spies into the north, but you think he doesn't have spies in the other kingdoms, worst of all, I can't find them," - Olenna had searched for northern spies, but it was impossible to find them, for when they seemed to locate one, they turned up dead, - "I can tell they are very good spies, for they know perfectly well how to hide their tracks."
- "Lady Margaery, a note has arrived for you from the Arryns" - One of the Tyrell servants interrupted the conversation that Margaery and her grandmother were having, with the politeness that was required she approached the table where they were and left the letter.
At the same time as she left the place, leaving the two of them were guarded by two guards who were at the only door through which you could enter.
- "Our master will want to know this."
Slowly the girl, removing her mask, slipped through the empty corridors as the two guards smiled, for they had to keep an eye on Olenna Tyrell, for she was after all a good political strategist and an enemy to be reckoned with. And though it was rare for faceless assassins to work as spies, it was their master's request, and they infiltrated every powerful house in Westeros.
Of course, some people had to die for them to take their place, but that was the least of it, they were doing the bidding their master gave them. Not even Olenna Tyrell could do anything against them, there was no way they could track down a spy from the north. They were not like Varys's little spider birds as children, no they could quietly change their identities as often as necessary, and the roses would never realize that their thorns were being quietly cut off, for the wolf to come to that place.
That was the way to play a game, Harry had all the points in his favor to win, he just had to know how to use them, and he was not going to waste that advantage to get what he wanted.
.
Casterly Rock
The great golden lion was in his chambers quietly observing his house's income, as well as that of the other houses in the West, he was the definition of power in the West, Tywin knew that most respected him and others feared him, of the two he preferred to be feared.
That people who came to his home should think twice before they wanted him as an enemy, just as the two houses he extinguished did when he assumed the Lannister baton, opposite him was his youngest son, his dwarfism was a disgrace to the Lannisters he would not deny, but his intelligence was immense, in one year he made Castamere produce the same amount of gold as Casterly Rock, several lords began to respect Tyrion even with his dwarfism, on the one hand, it was good, for Tyrion showed no insecurity and would not be silent when his person was mocked, the little lion had claws, just like his father.
And with that the story was created again, that Tyrion's dwarfism was caused by the houses his parents destroyed, by a curse they did before they died, it sounded logical, as his most intelligent son, the one who most resembled him, was a dwarf, but in this time he could tell that he could get along very well with his son, and he realized that he did not want him as an enemy.
- "Tyrion, some information about the north" - Tywin kept his eyes on what he was writing was a reply to Lord Stark, as it seemed the crown had borrowed money from the iron bank, which meant Jon didn't want to lend money from the Lannisters, so the Starks communicated with him, to let him know that if Jon wanted a loan from the north they were going to deny him, no doubt a good ally - "Have you been able to find out how many ships Dustin's port has."
- "I can't tell you exactly Father, but there are no more than 50 of them, unlike in Manderly Port where there are a lot of them." - Tyrion watched as his father nodded, it was not great information, but it was something that could help them, even if the Starks were allies, they could not allow them to become stronger than them, the lions always have to be above the wolves, - "But I got word that the Greyjoys are going to stop the gold the crown asked for from reaching its intended destination." - At that point, Tywin stopped writing and turned his full attention to his youngest son, - "The Starks won't lend Jon money, which will force Jon Arryn to come here to borrow the gold from you, and then who will pay his debt to us, I would recommend the Starks."
- "What you mean is that between two houses we put the crown in debt" - Tywin looked seriously at his son, on the one hand, he didn't like the plan as it meant sharing power, on the other hand, it was good, as it qualified their alliance with the Starks, and currently, the north was in a steady growth where having them as an ally was a greater benefit than having them as an enemy - "I won't deny it's a good idea, but how does it benefit our house."
- "Jon will always be reluctant to borrow gold from the Lannisters, so he'll look to the Starks first, the Starks will lend them the money they ask for, and then how they repay the Starks, Jon has no desire to give power to the north, especially with a leader like Harry Stark" - Tyrion looked at his father, that serious face that was thinking about the possibilities, but at the same time he didn't like the idea of sharing power, but Tyrion had to get a way to get the Starks in the game, it was his part that needed to happen - "Once Jon is in debt to the Starks, he'll look to the iron bank, any house can stop that gold from coming, like the Greyjoys if given the necessary information."
- "You had a hand in letting the Greyjoys know about that shipment" - Tywin looked at his son, he had to see exactly what his son did couldn't hit House Lannister in a bad way, and Tyrion passed a letter to his father, again from the Starks, informing him that the people who gave that information to the Greyjoys were dead - "The Starks found you out, it's lucky we have them as allies, but your mistake could have cost us everything."
- "I know, it is something that will not be repeated, next time I will consult before acting but there was no time" - Tyrion had to show somehow that he was sorry for his precocious action so that his father would think he was in control of it - "I thought, now that the Tully's don't watch the Greyjoys much they can do what they want, so any Greyjoy heist would be Tully's fault, the Starks now have problems with those two houses, so they helped my cause."
- "On one hand you are right, but I hope this little mistake is not repeated" - Tywin looked at his son who nodded, he could not punish him, as he did a good job, but he had to show that he had the power in this place, and although he was discovered by an ally, he had to pay attention in his actions - "But we can do as you say, the Starks are not interested in the throne, and making Jon indebted to practically the houses he despises most in the seven kingdoms, will make his fall more than quick...good thinking son."
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