Fire and Ice

Game of Thrones /Merlin

Chapter One - Winter is Coming

Winterfell is a large town that is constantly blanketed in snow, even in the thralls of summer you will always be able to find snow in Winterfell. I always found the snow strangely comforting, it always reminded me of the first time that I arrived in Winterfell in the arms of the great Ned Stark.

All I could hear were screams, I wasn't much older than 6 but I still had some idea of what was happening. The sky was dark and full of smoke and every so often you could see a flash of the great black dragon, the man astride it screaming curses and laughing giddily. That was the first and last time I would ever see the great Aerys Targaryen, the Mad King. They had arrived in the early hours of the morning, my brother spirited me away to a more secure part of the castle telling me that he would be back for me soon. Hours passed and all I could hear were the distant screams of dying men, then out of nowhere a low grunting noise permeated the air. I leapt to my feet ready for an attack but my eyes were met with the sight of my brother on his knees covered in blood and a sad, remorseful expression on his face. "Arthur?" my voice sounded so small and afraid, so unlike my usual tone. He looked up at me and smiled, "See I told you I'd be back Kay" the smile lingered on his lips for a second before he collapsed to the floor a look of sheer terror in his eyes. I started to cry knowing full well what was going to happen. "Hey, hey don't cry baby sister, I'm okay", he let out a ragged breath and crumbled even more. "You have to promise me one thing little sister", I answered in a small voice "What is it?", "You have to promise me that you won't change who you are no matter what anybody tells you, you will always be a Pendragon. I love you baby sister, I don't have to worry about you because I know that you'll be just fine. You always were a tough little baby." and with that he took his final breath a tear in his eye and a smile on his lips. I don't know how long I was sat there holding him and silently crying, wondering why the Gods chose to take my whole family and my home away from me. I must have fallen asleep after that because I was awoken by voices, they sounded strange as if they were from another country. "Look in here ser, we've found her" a deep voice rasped out. I hugged my body closer to that of my dead brothers and grasped his dagger. A kind looking man stepped forward with a warm smile on his face. "It's okay you're safe now, no one is ever going to hurt you I promise." he carefully stepped forward trying to gauge my reaction. "Please." my voice came out ragged from crying and I realised how unlike myself I sounded. The man came closer and gently took the dagger out of vice like grip. "Don't worry little one were going to take you to a safe place and make sure that nobody else can ever hurt you again." I let out a deep breath and looked down at my dead brother, it was surprising how peaceful death made someone look. He looked 10 years younger as if all of his worries had ceased to matter. "Don't worry princess we'll make sure he has a proper send off, like every King should." he smiled again and picked me up and held me close to his chest, I snuggled close to him and hid my face in the layer of furs. "My name is Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, I knew your father well. This is Jory my second in command." He moved his mouth close to my and whispered so only I could hear him: "and between you and me he's really just a big teddy bear". A small laugh escaped my lips and a huge grin covered Eddard's face. "That's more like it! Now what is your name then little one?" I glanced up at him and stared into his eyes, at that point I knew that I would be able to trust him. "Kayla Pendragon m'lord.", "Ahh, a beautiful name fit for a princess, now let's get you someplace safe."

9 years later

A loud bang on my door woke me from my dream. I groaned not wanting to get out of my warm, inviting bed. The incessant banging continued forcing me to roll out of my bed in a most unladylike manner and stalk over to the door with a scowl on my face. I quickly swung the door open and shouted "What?". I was greeted by the smirk of Theon Greyjoy, Lord Starks Ward. "Well I can't say that you look nice in mornings Kayla, in fact you look positively frightening!" My scowl deepened and I took a step forward causing Theon to step backwards warily. "What do you want Theo?" the look of fear seemed to lessen slightly at the mention of the nickname that I gave him. "I just thought that you wouldn't want to miss sparing practice seen as you're so close to beating Robb and Jon." At the mention of my adopted brothers name I perked slightly, ever since I had arrived at Winterfell after the fall of Camelot the Stark family had become my own. That including Ned's bastard son Jon. Jon and I are very close seen as we both don't really belong in Winterfell. We have shared a special bond since the first day we met. Whereas Robb on the other hand reminded me of my brother and seemed to fill his gap ever since. Theons voice brought me back from my daydream, "Yohoo anyone home?" he poked me in the arm just to add to his voice. "Hmmm? Yeah sorry had a bit of a flashback there" . A smile spread across my face and it seemed to move to Theon aswell. "Alright Kay I'll see you in the training yard" he ruffled my hair and walked off with another one of his trademark smirks on his face.

I got changed into my training clothes; a pair of tight black breeches, that Theon always seemed to like, an under top and a plain, yet slightly padded hunting tunic. I fastened my clock around my neck and then moved on to trying to tame my hair. My hair has been described as many things before and most of the time it was unruly. My hair is a beautiful shade of gold that you only find in the sunniest of places, it's long and wavy just like my mothers. Many people have described me as pretty back in Camelot but nowhere near as much as here in Winterfell, it's probably because I stick out like a sore thumb with my bright blond hair and sharp green eyes. Ned always says that I look like my mother, I never got to meet her because she died when I was born, something my father Uther, never seemed to forgive. My face and skin is more tanned than anyone in Winterfell. This is thanks to the long summers that I enjoyed back home in Camelot. My clothes fit my curves perfectly, I'm not too skinny and not too fat. Theon always seems to be reminding me of that fact and also the fact that I have an ample chest. I ended up just putting my hair into a simple ponytail fed up with the time it was taking to brush it. I grabbed my bow and sword and ran down to the training yard, dodging the servants as they ran about doing their daily chores.

I reached the training yard just as Bran was about to take a shot with his bow. Jon and Robb were stood next to him talking in hushed tones and Theon was sat on the wall next to the shooting range watching with a keen eye. I glanced up to see that Lord and Lady Stark were stood watching the proceedings. I caught Ned's eye and gave him a small wave which he returned with a broad smile. Catelyn on the other hand seemed to scowl at me, she never really did like me and jon very much thinking that we had no right to be involved in her family and the fact that I trained with a sword and bow seemed to annoy her even more. She would always say "A Lady never takes up arms you must act courteously and not like some man." I laughed to myself which caught the attention of the three brothers and Theon. "Hey Kayla, your just in time to see Bran shoot" Robb greeted me. Jon came over and gave me a hug and a warm smile. "How are you doing Kay?" He said in a quiet, deep voice. "I'm fine thanks Jon apart from the fact that I was woken up by that oaf banging on my door!" I added a laugh on the end to show Jon that I wasn't being overly serious. I had to be careful how much I said to him because he didn't take kindly when people were mean to me. "Oh you love seeing my beautiful face in a morning, it brightens up your entire day!" Theon quipped from across the yard. I chuckled and shouted back, "In your dreams Greyjoy" his smirk grew and spread all the way across his face, "In my dreams indeed" he quirked an eyebrow at my at smirked again. "Enough you two I don't need to listen to your flirting this early in the morning! Eugh." Robb scrunched up his face and Jon shifted beside me, obviously uncomfortable. I laughed and looked at the pair of them. "You do know we do it to purposefully gross you out and annoy you"