AN: This story is taking a somewhat lower priority compared to Lord Voldemort, Savior of North. In some way, I have found this one a bit more complex. Trying to keep track of all the events, military teams I am creating is not easy for me. Plus my new job has me breaking my head – my boss is a jackass to say the least. Anyway, I will keep updating in a bit of random schedule.

Table of Contents

Arrival in Winterfell 1

Inside First Keep, Arya's office 4

5 week to possible Ironborn attacked 5

4 Weeks to Ironborn attack 5

3 Weeks to Ironborn Attack 5

2 Week to Ironborn attack 6

1 Week to Ironborn attack 7

Week 0, Ironborn attack 8

I hadn't realized how comfortable and warm Winterfell was until after spending almost a month in Castle Black. Horrid place. No wonder criminals and rejects were tossed there. Fortunately, I wouldn't have to head back to the wall for a few month at the very least – most of the business could be done by raven. All in all, I was gone from Winterfell for a bit less then 2 month, but many things had happened.

Ned Stark, my so called father (well the father of this body, my shell) anyway, had been executed. Robb was well on his way to Riverrlands to fight the good fight. And, most importantly, my dear brother had sold myself and Sansa, his own sister to Walder Frey for a bridge. That is medieval life for you. Was I going to let that happen? No sir.

Robb's raven detailing the sale of his sister had arrived only a day before me. Accordingly, Walder Frey would be sending his sons meant to marry myself and Sansa to Winterfell with 10 retainers in a month time. Was I going to let a bunch of weasel-faced bastard desecrate my damn castle? No. Was I going to marry anyone? Fuck No. So, I had almost a month to figure out what to do with a couple of Frey bastards – should I simply imprison them? Should I have them killed half-way to Winterfell? Tempting. Imprisoning them might be beneficial but again, there is little use of hostage against Walder Frey considering how many children he has.

Before I could get some well deserved rest, I received an update from my intercept team. Apparently, they had Yorren detained approximately 20 miles from Winterfell, and housed in a hunting cabin. It took me less then 2 hours to reach the cabin. Myself and my so called D-team, or deniable-ops team.

Yorren was a hard nut to crack. I told him some of the prisoners were sent by Lord Stark to Winterfell because the queen meant to kill them and still he was adamant that they be taken to the wall. Only after threatening to simply kill them all and take my choice of prisoners, did he agree on my terms. Not that any of them would live seeing how they had all been juiced up with Ricin. Soviets did have some good idea on how to weaponize ricin as contact poison. They would all die in less then 2 days. My cleaner team would follow them for 2 days and make it look like a bandit attack. That way, everyone will think bandit activity has increased allowing me to force the other so called Lord increase patrols and military readiness in general. Of the 10 prisoners Yorren was transporting, I grabbed only Jaquen and Gendry. Jaquen was obviously going to be useful as a faceless man. Gendry on the other hand would be useful if I ever decide to bring Storm-lands to heel. Both the Baratheon brothers would die one way or the other and I could have Gendry legitimized, after which, he would be my key to Storm-lands.

Now that I had Jaquen in my custody, it was time to call the old basterd's boon of influencing at most 2 person in action. Make the faceless man my assassin. I was going to start a proper intelligence branch for Winterfell. Maybe even call it the Farm for old times sake.

On more martial situation, my military appeared to be flourishing. Recruiters were already busy recruiting more soldiers to replenish the 1,000 men deployed to the Wall. Current garrison of Winterfell was slightly greater then 2,000. It was more then enough to hold Winterfell but was pathetic as an offensive force. Was it possible to raise my military strength to at least up to 10,000? Robb had taken almost 18,000 men with him as he marched South. Apparently, a lot of noble house had been gutted in military terms to get that army mobile. It simply did not make sense to me – no matter how sparsely populated North was, sending 18,000 men south should not destroy the military population. It was absurd.

So, the very next day, I called a meeting between my senior commanders and the heirs of Northern Houses who had stayed in Winterfell. After everyone were settled, I sounded my concern and asked, "Well? Is population of North so little that sending 18,000 men south means we can't raise anymore army? The shithole called kings landing has almost a hundred thousand small folk living – North should have a million men here easily. Are we not counting properly? Or is it something else?"

There was a rather profound silence. Apparently, no one had ever thought of it. Maester Luwin replied, "Princess Arya, questions such as those – they have never been truly asked. Even the citadel hasn't looked at that. Why are you asking such questions my princess? You should be getting ready to meet your betrothed."

That did the trick for me. Stupid old fool has the temerity to discount my question and worse, suggest that I should go be a little bitch. For a fleeting second, I wanted to break the bastard's neck but instead, I fired back in a rather frosty tone, "Maester Luwin, if you have nothing productive to say, then you will keep your mouth shut or I swear by the old gods, I shall sew your mouth shut for you. May be that septa bitch will finally praise my sewing skills?" A bit of laughter spread across the room and I spoke again, "If the citadel hasn't looked at that question properly, then they must be fools of the first degree. You have all heard about the wights in Castle Black – the men that went with me saw those undead. They saw the wights kill over 20 black brothers. By all accounts, the white walkers are gathering beyond the wall and long night is soon upon us. Southern kingdom's won't believe us about the wights or even if they do, they won't send aid until it is too late. It means we have to raise enough men to fight a war on two front, lest we be destroyed. So, I ask you again, can more men be raised for the army?"

The question was aimed more towards the heirs and second sons left here in Winterfell then my commanders – I was trying to provoke them to raise more men for my army. The Karstark heir speaks for them all, "My Princess, it is not that North does not have men, it is just that people live in isolated, tiny villages so far apart, trying to raise a proper army will cause those villages to be completely abandoned or at the very least, half-emptied. Neither of scenario being particularly favorable."

Jon then speaks out, "Well then, why don't we start removing those tiny little villages and make larger villages? Larger villages are easier to defend, easier to keep track of."

Another one shakes his head and objects, "Not that easy to do – first, we don't have the gold needed to make new villages. And more importantly, how do we tell the people to abandon their village for something new?"

For a bit, I want to bang my head against the wall and sharply respond, "Why would we need gold to make villages? There is plenty of wood in the wolfs-wood or whichever forest happens to be nearby. Everything is owned by the Lord for whom the village will own fealty is owed to, so there is no need to pay for raw material. Have the soldiers work as construction crew. The only logistics we need to figure out is food supply."

Luwin, in a low, fearful voice says, "Yes – gold shouldn't be required all that much. All the supply is available right here. Question is, how favorable the noble houses will be to this idea?"

If I could have Robb rubber stamp my plans or better, have that brainless twat decommissioned, I could simply force everyone's hand, but until then I need to play ball with the damn nobles. The founding fathers truly had the right idea in purging aristocracy from good old USA – I thought to myself. So, I plan, "Well, we have heirs or at least the second sons of most Northern houses here don't we? Given that the Lords are faraway in South earning glory, we have enough authority to get the plan rolling. We will start with Winterfell – start telling nearby small folk they can move into Winter town. The land between Winterfell and Castle Cerwyn, have it cleared for farming. Any family that moves to Wintertown can have a farm in there. I want to raise my army by at least 1,000 hands within the next month."

Jon gives me a speculative look and questions, "Arya – we don't have enough men to clear the land."

"Wrong Jon – there are plenty of men. As of now, there are 2,000 soldiers here in Winterfell doing nothing. Have half of them on land duty while the other half either trains or perform guard. Also, let's start training all the women and children here to use bow and dagger. If we ever come under siege, that will give us much needed strength."

"Have women fight? That is blasphemy!" shouted Luwin.

"Do I really need to sew your mouth shut Luwin?" I growl out. "If any of you forgot, I happen to be a girl and I fight very well. And, I am not saying we will send the women to fight in front lines. We are simply teaching them how to defend themselves. It means more hand to protect Winterfell. Do any of you have issue with it?" I follow with by slamming a dagger through the table – a bit of drama never harms.

It had been almost a month since my return from the Wall. Things so far have been progressing well enough. On a more fortunate note, the arrival of Frey bastards had been delayed by another month because Robb had captured the Kingslayer, and was going to send the Kingslayer, the Frey bastard plus about 100 Frey soldiers as escort. He must be getting even more stupid with each passing day. Why would he trust such valuable hostages with Freys? Why not assign Winterfell soldiers to guard them? Was stupidity a necessary characteristic when it comes to being a Lord around here?

Apparently, Walder Frey wanted his future good-daughter Arya Stark to be safe and so, the 100 Frey soldiers would have the honor of guarding Winterfell with their life. We will see about that. Time for my deniable ops team – delta team – and another poison – designation P1. P1 was supposed to simulate an intense case of food poisoning. I quickly ordered delta team to rendezvous with the Frey delegation a few miles down the moat, act friendly and start poisoning their food. It wasn't about killing every single one of them – just most of them and their leaders. Whatever soldier remained would be absorbed in my army and I would still have my hostage. Those soldiers would be useful as cannon fodder and perhaps be passed to the watch in the future.

However, that wasn't the end of it. King Robb had done another thing of monumental stupidity – something that I was hoping he would do a bit later. Theon was dispatched as a messenger of "King Robb" to Lord Baelon.

Jon, seemed to be getting along with Maester Aemon. Not having that frigid bitch called Catelyn around was also good for him I think. He had already decided to denounce his targ father as a "rapist scum that didn't deserve a clean death". After a long talk, I managed to convince him that if possible he should start his own house and use a dragon/wolf hybrid as his emblem. We thought it would be the ultimate screw you to the targ. Also, he was already immune to fire. Take what you can, give nothing back. At least to that rapist scum. I did tell him about some of my plan regarding the wall, the wights and possible long night. The knowledge that one of his blood, Daenerys had 3 dragon and was rather hostile to Starks had him distraught. He was insistent on developing an action plan to neutralize those dragon. My training was shining on him – he was using modern military terminology more often, better AAR and so forth. I am still not sure how to neutralize Daenerys. All I know is that she is hot – damn this teenage body. Wargs taking control of the dragons is an option. The other option is machine guns. I am leaning towards machine guns. Late 1800s water cooled machine guns aren't all that hard to make. Multiple wargs to control one single dragon, use it to distract the other two and bam bam. We will see.

For now, Theon and the coming offensive by the Ironborn had to take priority. After a quick consultation with Jon and other commanding officers, we estimated Theon will reach Iron Islands in less then two weeks, give another week for them to assemble their fleet and two more week of travel time – leaving at most 5 weeks for North to get ready for an attack. I also had ravens sent to coastal towns and the neck regarding possible ironborn attack. I kept the wording ambiguous. It simply stated that, "Theon Greyjoy was dispatched in good faith to Iron Island by King Robb, asking Balon Greyjoy for an alliance to counter the naval armada of Iron Throne. However, given the unpredictable nature of ironborns in general and anger Balon Greyjoy holds towards Northmen in particular, North is to be ready for possible attack, signed Arya – The Stark of Winterfell".

The reaction of Winterfell's resident lordlings regarding Theon Greyjoy's return to Iron Island was particularly explosive. The general tone was that King Robb must be going mad or stupid or both. As much as I agreed with the sentiment, letting the anger grow would actually hurt House Stark, so I gave a speech about how the two grew up as foster brothers and while they might trust each other, whatever happens, will be on Balon Greyjoy. So, instead of thinking Robb a mad fool, he would be a naive fool. Good enough for me.

The atmosphere in Winterfell was electrifying. We now had a 5,000 men strong army. Only 2,000 of them had decent training, but the army was loyal to fault. They were all in constant training and so, the oughta be in fighting shape soon enough. Small folk from nearby hamlets had all moved to the newly expanded Winter Town. The promise of land had them working hard to clear the forest like crazy. Soon, there would be hundreds of acres of rich, arable land in the vicinity of Winterfell. But, before that, the Ironborn would have to be taken care of. One of the reason I wanted the forest cleared was to make sure no one could sneak around the castle without me knowing.

On a more diplomatic note, I had three Lannisters as hostages. The kingslayer and his two cousin. Two ravens were dispatched from Winterfell – the first was for Tyrion which basically stated that if my sister, Sansa was harmed in any manner, I would start dismembering the kingslayer. That would ensure he and Cersei will reign Joeffery or at least prevent Sansa from being hurt too much. The second went to Casterly Rock for Kevan Lannister telling him that his sons are safe because Arya stark has been felling particularly generous, which is of course contingent on the well being of her sister and the proper behavior of Lannister army. Gunboat diplomacy is the best kind of diplomacy after all.

The training of new troops was coming along very well. My new policy of letting the family of troops stay in Winter town meant we had a population of almost 15,000 men, women and children – 5,000 of them being soldiers and rest in women and children. That afforded Winterfell a phenomenal workforce. I had the small folks working round the clock setting up Winter town with permanent houses and fortifications. My long term plans were to set the place up as a proper city with Winterfell as the center.

Training of my special operations team, Kilo, November, Echo, Romeo and Bravo was coming along well. Now that I had Jaquen Hagar as one of my henchmen, he was starting to train some of the younger recruits as faceless men.

So far, only November team had seen any real action and even that was inside North. Despite my worries on how their training wasn't as good as it could have been, they captured Ramsay Snow with phenomenal ease. For now, I had him blindfolded, gagged and confined in the deepest dungeons of Winterfell. No one knew of his presence. Even the guards who feed him were not allowed to speak with him. I even had them wear ear plugs just to prevent Ramsay's scream reach their ears. Ramsay was always chained to the walls and fed a thin gruel 3 times a day. Basically, Bolton knew what I wanted him to know. Ramsay's capture was more of lucky stroke then anything else – November team lead by Jaquen ran across Ramsay and his merry men during their training exercise. As per my standing orders, Jaquen and November team proceeded to terminate them all with the exception of Ramsay. The victory was rather one-sided most likely because my people attacked from a very advantageous position – better weapons, smoke bombs, poisons and of course, a faceless man.

Capture of Ramsay had to some extent forced me to play my hand a bit earlier then I wanted. I was forced to have November team had infiltrate Dreadfort. Jaquen, wearing the face of Ramsay took control of Dreadfort and as such, Roose Bolton from now on knew only what I wanted him to know. This unfortunately, threw a wrench in my plan to save Sansa. I intended to dispatch Kilo team lead by Jaquen to King's Landing as soon as possible and extract Sansa plus as many alchemist as possible. But, since Jaquen was now occupied playing the role of Ramsay, I would have to wait until Kilo was war hardened.

When I read the book or watched the show, I was somewhat curious how the faceless men would get new faces. The show seemed to indicate that a dead person would donate their face to the order of faceless men – the faceless men would carve a dead man's face off right? Apparently, the subject doesn't necessarily have to be dead for a faceless man to wear said subject's face. Jaquen literally tore Ramsay's face off. He actually started a face depository in the dungeon of first keep for future use but that is neither here nor there. Regardless, Ramsay's scream proved one thing – sadist's such as Ramsay Snow can dish out but not dish in. The other thing about faceless men was that they could technically wear a man's face without tearing said face off but apparently that would be more like an illusion then anything.

Fortification of Winter Town was now good enough that a casual attack force could not break in. It was no where enough to with stand a siege but against Ironborn or even wildlings? The temporary wall was more then good enough. I had received ravens from coastal location reporting increased sighting of Ironborn long ships. The attack was coming sooner then later. Apparently, every coastal lords (or whoever was in charge) had armed their smallfolks and were all getting ready for attack. For now, it was a waiting game.

The attack was imminent. Flint's at the finger dispatched a raven saying long ships were seen heading upwards towards the Bay of Ice. From what I remembered, Bear Island was attacked by Victarion Greyjoy. So, this was most likely the attack force heading towards Bear Island. All of western coast of North would be under siege within days. The bickering in my solar was rather memorable.

Right after getting the raven regarding long ships heading up North, I ordered my commanders and lordlings to gather for a conversation. The gray rat, Luwin then read the raven out loud after which, Jon spoke out, "This means war has come to our door step. Theon turned his cloak and is now attacking North. At least because of Arya's precautions everyone is ready for those fuckers."

Torrhen Karstark yelled, "Arya – when do we march for battle? If the longships are headed towards Bear Island, there must plenty headed towards Deepwood Motte, Barrowton and Torrhen's Square. We need to move!"

Beren Tallhart, the youngest nephew of Lord Tallhart spoke furiously, "Torrhen's square is where they will hit. I am sure of it. My father was one of the commanders who invaded Pyke – Balon Greyjoy would not have forgotten that. We need to send men to Torrhen's square now."

I then told Tallhart, "I agree with Beren – that is why a 1,000 man host was already dispatched towards Torrhen's square two days ago. They will force march and reach there within a week. If Benfred has taken my orders to heart, the square will easily hold until then."

Beren then yells, "Why wasn't I told? That is my home – I should be there with the army."

Always the loyal brother, Jon slams his hand and orders, "Do not raise your voice Beren – there is a reason why you are here. A reason why you are all here."

I take from there, "Each of you are here for one single reason – making sure your house doesn't fall. Tywin Lannister doesn't believe in honor. He means to win by killing the heads of our houses. You are all here because if your Lords are killed or captured, you can continue your line. War is unpredictable and we will not see good Northern house decimated because of it. Torrhen, your brother was killed in battle against the kingslayer and now you are the heir. What would have happened if both you and your brother were their and were killed? House Karstark would have no male heirs. Same goes for many of you. You are all here to ensure your house does not die out and as such, going to battle without reason will not do. Understood?"

There is plenty of grumbling but it eventually subsides.

Bran is the one to question, "What about Deepwood Motte? Arya, are you planning to send men there?"

Bran is coming along well. Despite being crippled, his brain anything but crippled. If you loose a part of yourself, another part will grow strong as a substitute it. I answer, "Not yet – Gawen Glover had sent a raven saying he had raised a host of 1,000 strong and was ready to stand siege. We will station a host of 1,000 men in Tumbledon Tower and if need be, they will march for Deepwood Motte."

Bran again questions, "And Barrowton, anything from them?"

I get an ugly look on my face, "Lady Dustin sent a minimal amount of men with Robb despite being repeatedly asked for more. We are not wasting any men on that bitter old shrew." Barbara Dustin is someone who needs to be eliminated sooner then later. Since the self-righteous prick known as Ned Stark didn't bother bring the bones of self-righteous bitch Barabara's husband, she has been rather cross with House Stark and well, the only good enemy is a dead one. Maybe the Ironborn will do the job for me, eh? The best part is, I had purposefully neglected to send raven to Barrowton about the impending Ironborn attack. It should be fun. If they survive, I will have the bitch in chains for not getting ready for the attack, if they burn, I will have the bitch humiliated post-posthumously.

Like clockwork, the ironborn attacked in every single location they could, no exception. Winterfell was more then ready. Now that the forest around Winterfell was cleared and Winter town was fortified, trapping Theon would be rather easy. I had constructed a few hidden bunkers outside of the city walls, right in the woods. It was for one single reason only – the moment someone tries to scale the walls they would emerge and crush the enemy. Boot. Ant. Hammer. Anvil. Communication was strictly one way. Scouts (who did not know about the bunker) would tell them about enemy location using animal calls. Winterfell would confirm. At the final moment, splat – kill all enemies.

We started receiving ravens about Ironborn attack on Deepwood Motte, Torrhen Square, Moat Cailin and Stony Shores. Fortunately, due to my prior alert and strict orders to raise military readiness, those attacks were dispelled easily. The Moat was already fortified with forces from Winterfell, Neck and White Harbor. Stony shores was mostly evacuated. Patrols looking for possible raiders took care of the few opportunistic ironborn who wanted to grab some thralls or salt-wives.

However, nothing would deter Theon the turn-cloak from targeting Winterfell. He actually brought 200 men to attack my castle believing it would be lightly fortified. No one made it inside alive. The men bunker-ed outside did an excellent job of cutting down the ironborns. Archers on the battlement had a good time picking the stragglers up. Theon somehow made it all the way top before being knocked out. Jon was feeling particularly vindictive and with my egging, chopped off Theon's hands and legs. Even Luwin appeared to approve of it. Not having Geneva convention was a good thing. My CIA handlers would have a swell time here in this medieval world, I thought.

The ironborn attacking the Moat seemed to be rather smart – the moment they saw it was fortified, instead of attacking, they turned tail and ran off. They took off straight for Barrowton. Just like I hoped, Lady Dustin hadn't planned for a possible attack – the place was not properly fortified and was an easy taking for the raiders.

AN: Barrowton doesn't fall either in the show or boot, but I decided to take it down. With the force supposed to assault Moat Cailin supplementing the one attacking Barrowton, they should be able to take an unprepared fortress easily, eh?