-VAL-
Wun Wun was screaming. The sound was so loud the whole tower shook, and Val feared that the already dilapidated Hardin's tower might collapse there and then. More people were shouting now, their human voices could never match the giants. Over it all, she only just made out Jon's voice shouting, "let him go, Wun Wun let him go!" Now she was afraid. The tensions at castle black already ran higher than the wall, if Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun were to attack a one of the crows, or worse a queens man, the fragile peace that Jon had built would break. And gods help them all if it did.
Jon was shouting something else now, "no blades, Wick put that knife-", The giant was still roaring and the men were screaming in outrage, but Jon was silent. She had to see for herself, she could be of no use to anyone hiding up in her room.
When she reached the base of the tower, where the giant normally slept, Wun Wun had stopped roaring but she saw why the men had been so angry. The giant was holding the mangled and broken corpse of Ser Patrek of Kings mountain, one of the queens knights. No, the thought, no no no, that bearded queen will have his head for this.
Wun Wun was looking at something outside in the yard. Almost the whole castle had come out to see what had happened, most of the men were huddled just outside the door, their backs to val and the giant. A safe distance behind them all was Queen Selyse and her daughter Shireen. When they saw what had become of ser Patrek, the queen almost fainted, and the nearest knight had to reach out a hand to steady her. The little princess burst into tears and hid her face in her mother's stomach. One of the crows turned at her approach, his face white with horror. Horse, his name is horse, she remembered.
"what is it?" Val asked him, "what happened?"
He didn't answer, just opened his mouth and shook his head. She pushed passed him and into the knot of men. Some where free folk, some were crows, some were queens men. All were too shocked for words. And now she saw why.
He was lying facedown in the snow, there was a knife between his shoulder blades and wound in his side to showing where a second had been. The snow all around him was stained red.
The men stood around her began to leave, the queens men first.
Val knealt down beside him and reached out a shaking hand, to turn him over. She already knew what she would find, but she had to see it. He was still warm, but the blood stained snow was slowly taking what remained of his heat.
All of the queens men had gone now, leaving only free folk and crows.
She pulled the knife out first, then pushed on the shoulder closest to her and rolled him onto his back. Someone else was shouting now, but she could barely hear him. He came out to where they all were.
Upon seeing Tormund giants bane, many of the crows flew away. He said something to a few of her own kind who then took the giant back inside. Tormund stood beside her.
Jon's eyes where still open, but he was dead.
Val closed them, and stood back up. The ginger man gave her a look that, on any other man, could have been fear, but on him, was rage. If Val had been any other woman, she may have wept or screamed or cursed. But she had grown up north of the wall, she had know more than her share death, she was not the sort of person balk when a friend died.
"Tormund," she said, "take him inside"
Torreg, Tormund's son, had been Jon's squire. He helped his father lift the body and carry it inside.
Almost all the crows had gone now, only three were left, Horse, Satin and Leathers. All of the free folk gathered there followed Tormund and torreg into Hardins, so did the three crows.
She did not waste any more time. No one else knew all that she knew, and even if they did they were still to shocked and shaken to figure it out and do what she was doing. She was going to the old forge. Before she had even arrived she could hear him, scratching and jumping at the door.
"Ghost", she called, softly, as not to scare him or draw too much attention, "it's Val, move back im coming in"
As soon as she stepped through the door, the direwolf was on her. His teeth bared at her in a silent snarl, his hackles were up, he was almost as tall as she was. She was trapped against the wall.
"You know me Ghost." she said, but it only made him him angrier. She had no time to argue with him, and no wolf ever listened to calm words, "you're scarred I know, but we don't have time, the crows will be here soon and they will kill you." He relaxed more and backed away slightly at that. She put her hand to his face and stroked his cheek "Tormunds in Hardins tower, that's where we have to go."
Snow was falling again as they left the forge, soaking up their footfalls and melting on their heads. Hardin's tower was almost full, Tormund was waiting for her at the door. He nodded when he saw the wolf and brought them through the mass of free folk who had gathered there, waiting to hear what they would do next. She saw Borroq next to Wun Wun, his boar was not there for which she was glad, but Ghost still bristled at the smell of him. Tormund and Toregg had taken Jon's body up to one of her rooms. He was laid out on a desk. Now he was out of the snow, she could see he had taken 4 knives, not 2. One to the throat, one in the stomach and two in the back.
The three crows were there, each one angrier than the last. None said a word though, and she understood why. They were here, all their brothers had returned to the shield hall to wait for one of theirs to tell them what would happen now. These three though, they hadn't, they had stayed with Jon and sided with the wildlings.
Old Mormont's talking raven had gotten in somehow, he flapped down onto the table. Toregg sat at the foot of the table, he shoo'd him away. The bird flew onto Tormunds shoulder, "snow," he cried, "Jon snow, Jon snow" Tormund put his hand up to silence the bird and his son looked over at Val.
"Why did you bring the wolf?" Hasked her, "he'll be little help when them out there decide to kill us all. Might as well have set him free, now he'll just die right with the rest of us." His voice was angry, but Val knew it was to hide his fear and grief. Tormund looked her, then to the corpse, then to to wolf, then to Toregg and the three crows. They all looked equally oblivious to what was happening, then Leathers creased his brow and looked at the wolf again.
"The wolf." He said with a sigh of relief now he understood, "Jon is the wolf."
-ARYA-
The crowd was smaller today than it had been for the previous shows, only thirty people, perhaps fewer. They were a good audience though, and more than made up for their lack of numbers in their enthusiasm.
The kindly man had sent her to the mummers three weeks ago. She had so few lines it had only taken her a day to learn them. When she was first told that she would be joining a mummers troop, she had assumed she was being sent there to learn how to lie better. Once she got there though she discovered that that had only been half the reason.
The play was called "The Bloody Hand", and if Arya Stark had seen it, she would have been wroth. It claimed to tell the events at King's Landing during the war of the five kings, but it was all wrong. The hand himself was Tyrion Lannister. In the play he had been the one to order her fa- Lord Eddard Starks execution, but the imp had not even been there when the Starks were in King's Landing, and she had heard Joffrey give the order herself. No she told herself, that was not me, that was Arya of house Stark. That girl is gone, she died in Westeros. I am Mercy, Mercy the mummer.
Mercy the mummer was much prettier than Arya Stark had been, which was why the mummers had given her the role of Margaery Tyrell, the new Queen of the seven kingdoms. She did not think she liked Margaery at first, the girl was too soft, and she actually wanted to marry Joffrey. But as she spent more time playing Margaery, she became quite fond of her. She's only doing what she's told, Mercy realised after her first week, most Westerosi women have next to no choice in who they marry. They marry who their family tell them to, to form lasting alliances between two houses. Even Arya Stark would have had to marry someone eventually.
It was a new moon that night. She told the head mummer and he let her go. The troop would be in Braavos for another month before moving on to Pentos. They were staying in an inn called "The Titans Daughter". It was much further away from the house of black and white than brusco's home had been, but that was a good thing now as it gave her a chance to learn something else. By the time she reached the house, the moon was rising and her warm breath froze in front of her.
Once inside the house of black and white, the Waif helped her take Mercy's face off. Mercy was older, maybe 15 or 16, and very pretty. Cat of the canals was too young and too well known to join the mummers, but mercy was new and she looked the part for queen Margaery.
The kindly man came to them now, he and the waif nodded to each other and she left. The man sat down opposite her.
"What three things has a girl learned this time?" He asked.
"S'vrone is pregnant," she said, "she is angry, she plans on killing the man who has done this to her"
He nodded, "This is good to know. What else?"
"The sea lord is close to death, he will not last the winter"
"Just so, and the third?"
"The iron bank made a bad investment," she told him, she had heard this on her walk back, from an envoy was making his way from the docks, "They lent money to a lord in Westeros so he could buy food for winter. But he was killed while the envoy was returning to Braavos, and his men are not like to pay back his debt."
"Does a girl know who this lord was?"
"No."
He gave her a queer look, as if he knew something she did not. Part of her wanted to ask what he knew, for she was sure that he knew who this lord was. But she had learned that it was best not to ask question here. The man stood and gestured for her to do the same. They said good night and she returned to her bunk.
She had a wolf dream that night. It was a sad dream. She was with her pack still and snow was falling again, the ground was covered in it. Some of her smaller cousins did not like the snow. They kept moving their feet and whimpering. They wanted to move back into the woods, to hunt to kill to hide, but she could not. She stood at the edge of the river, and howled. The night wolf wanted to cross the water, to run and run and not stop until she reached her brother, but her pack would not follow her. She howled again and her smaller cousins joined her. Then she turned and led them back into the woods, they were pack now, and they needed her more than her brother did.
-BARRISTAN-
He was the first one at the council table, accompanied by Missandei. He had taken to keeping the little Narthi scribe close to him at all times, especially during council meetings. The girl was cleverer than half of the lords and generals on the queens council, and wiser than all of them. She could give surprisingly good council for one who was not yet 12. That was not his only reason to keep her close however. There were people in this pyramid now that Barristan Selmy did not entirely trust, and Missandei would be unable to protect herself should any of them turn on her.
The next to arrive was maester Marwyn. The maester had arrived from the citadel a few days ago, claiming that he was sent by one of his superiors to help council queen Daenerys and educate her in any Westerosi customs or events (ancient or recent) that she may require. He also brought a letter by the maester who had sent him, but would not allow Ser Barristan to read it as it is addressed to the Queen, not the Queens hand.
The rest came quickly after that. Skahaz the shavepate, Marselen of the mother's men, Symon Stripeback of the free brothers, Tal Toraq of the stalwart shields Galazzar Galare the green grace , Jaqqa Rhan Rommo from the queens khalasar, Jokin and the widower of the storm crows. Greyworm came last, along with two of his generals. They all sat and looked to barristan selmy for an explanation. He gave it to them.
Three days ago, he sent the two Dornishmen into the Yunkish camp to free the remaining hostages. They had gone back to the wind blown to tell them of the hands deal to free their captains in exchange for freeing Daario, Hero the unsullied and the queens blood rider, Jhogo. The free company agreed, but sellswords are notoriously treacherous. So when they went to the tent the hostages were being held in, and found a dozen Second Sons on guard, the men from the Windblown handed the Dornishmen over to them, admitting the entire plan. Drinkwater and the big man were taken to the commander of the Second Son's, Brown Ben Plumm and, to their surprise, Tyrion Lannister. They claimed that the Imp made some quip about Dornishmen not learning to stay well away from dragons after hearing of Prince Quentyn's demise, but they received no further insult from the Second Son's. Instead, they helped them. They brought the Hostages to them and gave them all second sons garb and delivered them to the place where the hostages were being held.
Yronwood and Drinkwater, accompanied by one of the captains of the second sons, Kasporio the cunning, and Tyrion Lannister, then delivered Jhogo, Daario and Hero of the unsullied back to the great pyramid of Meereen.
When they arrived with only 3 hostages Ser Barristan inquired as to the whereabouts of the other three (all of whom were kin to Hizdar zo Loraq). Daario Naharis told him "I'm afraid they were never hostages, Ser grandfather. Certainly not the way that we were. The Yunkish allowed them to roam the camp, feasted them at their own tables, even gave them slaves of they own to see to their every need. It would seem that the wise masters of Yunkai are in fact wise enough to know how to suck up to the new king of Meereen.
Ser Barristan explained all of this to the council. When it was all done, the rest of the queens representatives only had one question. Grey Worm asked it,
"What will we do about the Second Sons?"
"I don't know" selmy answered, "I think it would be best if we waited for Queen D-"
The Shavepate cut him off, "we have wasted enough time waiting on the Queen. The Yunkish army is all but gone now the sellswords have abandoned them. They have no more hostages to use against us-"
"They still have three of Hizdars kin if you recall" the green grace interjected. The Shavepate laughed at that.
"Did you not hear what old Ser just told us? They are not hostages, they are honoured guests. Even if they weren't, they are Hizdars kin, they are nothing to us." The green grace had nothing to respond to that so Skahaz continued, "we should be rewarding the second sons. They brought all of the slavers sellswords to our side, with all five free companies, the unsullied, the brazen beasts, the mother's men and the stalwart shields, our victory is certain. Even without the dragons."
The dragons were another problem that the hands council had yet to solve, but unprovoked they were no real danger to the city. The second sons on the other hand, Ser Barristan was loath to trust brown ben plumm. In the short time I have now him the man has been thrice a turncloak, what is to stop him from betraying us again the moment I release Kasporio and lord Tyrion. The dwarf himself posed a whole new problem, though that truly was a matter best left to the queen. Until her return however, Barristan had confined him to his chambers.
"We cannot trust them." He decided after short while, "but we would be fools to turn away such as they are offering us." The next words stuck in his throats, he knew what they had to do, but there was no honour in it, "we send the free companies back to the Yunkish camp. There they will attack the slave soldiers, who have by all accounts been decimated by the pale mare. They will take captive all the masters they can find. If their armies lay down their arms they will be allowed to return to Astapor and Yunkai."
"How?" Asked the Green Grace, "the slaves are so weak they can barely fight, how are they supposed to return to their homes. We surely can't make them walk back?"
Ser Barristan had to think on that for a moment, "the slavers fleet is still blocking the Skezackshan, they can take those and sail home."
Everyone nodded at that. It was a good plan, honour or no. As it now seemed that all were in agreement, he was about to call the meeting to a close when Grey Worm called, "Ser Barristan. I hope I am not intruding, but this one has a question." The leader of the unsullied rarely asked questions in front of everyone else on the council, so the Hand judges that it must be important and nodded for him to continue.
"What is to be done about the Dornishmen?"
"It has already been done." He answered, he drew a breath as he knew the council would not like the answer, "I sent them home, as soon as they had delivered the hostages." There were many murmurs and angry looks exchanged then, he continued before anyone could question him, "I made a promise to them that they would go home, I had to keep that promise. Now, my lords, my lady, if that is all then let's leave it there. I will speak to the sellswords captains this evening and tell them of our plan." He nodded and walked from the hall, Missandei hurried after him.
Before they had had a chance to walk three feet out of the council room, a small girl ran up sand grabbed him by the sleeve, she was one of the queens cupbearers, Quezza.
"You must come now Ser," she said, panting from running so fast. "There is something, something, you must come see!" She ran off again. He and Missandei followed her at a much slower pace. When they arrived at a balcony she pointed out to sea, where a fleet of ships some 60 strong was sailing towards the city. His eyes were not as sharp as they once had been, so he asked Missandei to tell him who's ships they were.
"I do not know the sigil, ser."
"Describe it to me."
"A black field," she told him, though that much he could see himself, "there's a creature on it, golden I think, it's too far away to see what kind, it's a sea beast, yes and definitely gold, it's scary, like a monster."
She did not have to continue now, he already knew what it was. "A kraken. It's a kraken."