45 Chapter 45: Maesters and Snakes P1

"How can you know they are spies?" Eddard asked incredulously.

Harry was not surprised to see his father's disbelief. Even he was quite stunned to learn two cleaning ladies were spies. The real shocker was three tongueless children in an orphanage running thanks to his mother's patronage. The orphanage was even a recent setup spurred on by her guilt over executing Septa Mordane which he thought was totally unnecessary. The zealot truly deserved the rope.

"I have erected wards covering the whole of Winterfell. Anyone entering the castle with less than savoury intentions against House Stark will find themselves falling ill. Of course, they'll recover shortly but should their dark intentions persist, they shall fall ill again and again. Before my departure, I had charged the Valkyrie to observe Winterfell's inhabitants and visitors, and this is the list they've compiled." said Harry, looking pointedly at the piece of parchment that was now in his father's hands.

"Your magic is becoming more and more incomprehensible for me son. But I digress. Who'd send spies to Winterfell?"

Sometimes, Harry found a sort of nostalgia when he observed his father. The man was as simple as someone could hope to be. Harry was reminded of himself after he had walked away from his political career in the Ministry. Just like him, Lord Eddard wanted to be left alone and live merrily with his family. As time has proven, those in positions of power often are not given this boon.

"I do not know who sent them but I've got a method for finding it out without harming these spies." Harry offered thinking now might be a good time to try his hand at making the truth serum or at least a variant of the potion as the ingredients he had amassed from Skane are not compatible with the truth serum he knew in the wizarding world.

"Without harming them? These are spies sent by unknown enemies. Their life is forfeited the moment they stepped into my domain with ill intentions against my family."

And this was where the wolf in his father reared up like a fierce beast. A perceived threat against the pack was not something his father could tolerate.

"Wouldn't it be better to use these spies and let their masters get false information?"

"No." Eddard disagreed firmly. "I'd like you to keep these… wards, is it?… powered around the castle. I'll have Jory sweep the castle for more of these spies or enemies and interrogate them properly before they're executed or sent to the Wall."

"As you wish father." Harry agreed reluctantly while privately thinking of running a parallel investigation into these spies.

Winterfell was not his castle to rule anyway. It was under his father's command and in the future, it was going to be Robb's seat. It'd be improper for him to dictate how they should rule from the castle especially when his concerns and suggestions were heard.

"Lord Manderly seems to be very happy with your visit. He is all praises for you and Robb."

"Lord Manderly was also a good host."

"Hmm… Tell me, what is this undying star Lord Wyman is talking about?"

"Just a small gift I gave to the sept. They were quite happy to receive it." Harry shrugged playing it down as he was explicitly ordered not to interfere with the Faith of the Seven.

Eddard scrutinized his son for a moment before letting the matter drop. The Manderlys seem happy and it also looks like his son has worked his magic in their fields as well which was the whole point of the visit. He was content to let things be so long as no offence was given to the Faith. Jon Arryn would not have written to him if things were not dire in King's Landing. While Lord Arryn left out the reason behind the High Septon's sudden hostility, he assumed it has to do with Catelyn ordering the execution of the septa. The discovery of these spies in his castle only reinforced his assumption.

Looking to change the subject he latched on to the visit to Deepwood Motte.

"For some reason, Lord Glover did not write to me. How did your visit go with House Glover?"

"Ah, we did not visit Deepwood Motte." said Harry.

"You did not visit…" Eddard spluttered. "You were gone for nearly a month. Where were you if you were not visiting Deepwood Motte?"

"We were at Sea Dragon Point."

"Doing what?" Eddard asked incredulously.

"Building my castle." Harry said nonchalantly.

Eddard stared at his son unseeingly for a few minutes before he shook himself out of the stupor.

"Building a castle? What do you mean?" Eddard asked slowly feeling like the ground beneath him was starting to disappear.

"You saw how I built the Astronomy Tower. Similarly, I built a castle at Sea Dragon Point close to the shore. The shore will need some work done to turn it into a proper harbour but that's quite easily manageable."

Eddard stared at his son incomprehensibly for some time before letting out a sigh of defeat.

"Every time you perform a miracle with your magic, I think to myself nothing can surprise me from now on. And yet I'm left completely overwhelmed by the next feat of magic that you bring into the world." Eddard whispered looking into the young face of his son.

Eddard walked around his table and hugged his son close to his chest earning an indignant squawk of protest from Harry.

"The more power you amass and showcase to the world you're painting a larger target on your back. Not everyone will be as understanding as your family. When others look at you they'll see either a threat or an opportunity to increase their strength." Eddard warned, concern bleeding into his words.

"Hiding my true self will be like denying a part of me."

"I'm not asking you to deny the gifts the Old Gods in their greater wisdom have bestowed on you son. I'm telling you the nature of the people that are around you. You are my son and you'll always be loved no matter what you do. But the world won't treat you that way. The more power you exhibit you'll end up attracting more untoward attention." Eddard sighed and pressed a kiss on his son's brow before looking seriously into the grey eyes of his son.

"You'll need more protection." Eddard whispered. "You need a devoted guard detail."

"I have the Valkyrie protecting me." Harry argued.

Eddard smiled indulgently at his son. Aside from the fact that his son has a gift for coming up with strange names he thought nothing more of those silly girls. Their only advantage seems to be that they can use magic-bows Harrion made for them which has remained a secret on his order. He had prohibited those bows from being shown around either. The last thing he needed was for rumours to start flying around about the fact that his son can build weapons that can decimate armies in the blink of an eye. That'd undoubtedly attract assassins from almost all corners of Westeros and Essos.

At the same time, those magic bows were the reason that he even allowed those three girls to stay by his son's side. Sending them back into the Northern Mountains would be detrimental to the secrecy surrounding those bows. It also helped that those three girls managed to make his son engage in archery and other martial weapons as did his brother.

"I'm sure they are good with those bows but that's not enough. You'll need strong warriors who have a good sense of honour and duty. Now run along and join Maester Luwin. He has been asking for you."

"Father." Harry bowed before taking his leave.

Eddard watched his son leave before taking the list of spies into his hands. The presence of these spies warranted a thorough revamping of the security of the castle. These spies must be discreetly captured and questioned before he sends his men out to check for more spies.

'Perhaps, I need to make hunting for spies a routine affair from now on.' Eddard mused.

XXXXXXXXX

Harry was hastily introduced to five Archmaesters in quick order before he was cajoled into the observatory of the Astronomy tower. He was expecting these Archmaesters would find themselves suffering from nausea induced by the wards surrounding Winterfell. The fact that they were all in sound health meant that the wards did not sense any hostile intent from these maesters.

'At least, not yet.' Harry thought eyeing the grey-robed maesters of the Citadel.

"These charts are quite phenomenal. They are well-detailed and carefully measured using new measuring scales that are beyond my wildest imagination. How ever did you manage to accomplish this task young Stark?" asked Archmaester Halmer, looking at Harry with large brown eyes alight with wonder and reverence.

"Archmaester Halmer is one of the foremost experts in the study of stars and using them for naval exploration of our world." Maester Rhodry explained.

"No man is an expert in any field of study Maester Rhodry. We are all merely scratching at the surface of a vast ocean of knowledge. When we find a small piece of the puzzle in this exploration some think that is the precipice of discovery when in fact a long arduous journey lies ahead." said Archmaester Halmer.

Harry eyed the bald maester with some interest. He could not discern whether the man was talking about what he believed or was merely putting on a show to impress everyone with his faux modesty. The temptation to use leglimency on the old man and his colleagues was quite tempting. But he pushed that urge down with some effort. While he could invade another mind, he was putting off that particular branch of magic until this body hit eleven. It was a small security measure he was taking as mind magic was something not easily trifled without some blowback, especially at a young age.

The Archmaester looked at him expecting an answer to the earlier query.

"Well, the simplest answer would be magic but that'd be disingenuous. I created a device called a telescope. It is a device capable of observing celestial bodies by using the varying magnifying powers of the lenses housed inside them." said Harry, leading the bunch of old men towards the two telescopes he had painstakingly constructed.

"And how exactly did you make this device?" asked Archmaester Halmer, looking curiously at the two devices while his colleagues began surrounding the two devices and observing them in earnest.

"Well, that's most definitely made by a combination of magic and arithmancy." said Harry, making the maesters titter amongst themselves. But Archmaester Halmer was not at all put off.

"What is Arithmancy?"

"Well, Arithmancy is a branch of magic that utilizes numbers, certain numerical codex and keys to formulate, design and forge spells and other magical devices."

Of course, Harry didn't say a word about rituals and other finer aspects of magic. He just used a broad brush and paint them all as spells or a derivative of magical constructs. He was quite happy to leave the explanation at that. From the looks on the faces of these Archmaesters, he knew they were staunch deniers of magic which was quite understandable. If the Citadel has insisted that magic has died for years, then he could see why these Archmaesters have a difficult time accepting that magic was the prime mover in his works.

"Tell me then, young lad. What is magic? Where does it come from? Where in the body does it reside?" asked another maester who had grey hair and a pudgy nose.

"This is Archmaester Gormon, an expert in medicine and the human body." Maester Luwin said, providing the introduction.

"Frankly, I do not know." said Harry.

The disappointment in the eyes of the Archmaesters was palpable.

In truth, he does know the answers to the queries they raised. But sharing those answers with these people was a very bad idea. Even if these Archmaesters were not hostile there was no way to guarantee the knowledge that he provides will not be used by someone in the Citadel for nefarious purposes.

"Then how do you use this magic?" asked Archmaester Halmer.

"Through runes and rune-enforced objects." he answered following up by showing them the runes and the extremely complicated art of runes to the maesters.

Now, he could easily explain runes to these maesters without much concern. After all, the First Men runes have been around for thousands of years and the maesters were no short of using them in some way. Without the ability to channel magic into the runes, the ancient language was just a bunch of ineligible scribbles.

From there on out, Harry had to explain the use of Latin and Anglo-Saxon runes he regularly used to the maesters. He left out the use of runes in creating wards and other spells but merely in the use of low-tier spells like creating a bit of light, healing small wounds and making potions etc.

It took the Archmaesters nearly a week to properly trace out the star system he had charted out using the telescopes. When they finally did, they accepted the model he proposed and confirmed using their limited authority that their system was not Terracentric but Heliocentric. He was also quite satisfied that the Archmaesters were agreeable with the idea of using his terminology when it comes to the planets and the moons he found. Therefore, all ten planets in their star system were named after the ancient Roman deities. The planets were thus named Mercury, Venus, Terra, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The sun was named Helios which naturally became the name for their star system as well, the Helios system. The sole moon orbiting Terra was named after the moon deity of Rome, Diana. The twin moons of Venus were named Vulcan and Juno. The largest moon in the system was orbiting Jupiter which he named Minerva.

There were even more moons and other celestial bodies but he left them alone for the time being. The moons were not that important except for the moon of this planet. The only other celestial bodies that interested him were the stars. But the most important star that was quite close to this planet was already named. In Westeros, the star was called the Evenstar for its bright light could be seen in the evening sky even before the sun could set.

After a week-long gruelling work, he was allowed some breathing room as the Archmaesters retired into a meeting of sorts for cataloguing and studying the information they gathered in the week. This left Harry comparatively free and that's how he ended up in the training yard.

"So, Archmaester Gormon is your father's uncle?" Harry asked while defending himself with a wooden shield from Garlan Tyrell's sword.

"Oh, yes. He is my grandsire's fourth sibling." said Garlan, taking an experimental jap towards Harry's right ribs.

Harry sprang further left while keeping a steady cover with his shield. He was only allowed to defend and do nothing else while Garlan was on the offensive. He liked this kid better than Theon Greyjoy whose greatest ambition is to become a reaver. He was not exactly up to date on the politics of the southern kingdoms but he assumed the Tyrells were cosying up to his family because of the recent fortunes of House Stark. Although, he did wonder what their endgame was by sending the second son of Lord Mace Tyrell to foster in his home. There certainly seems to be no untoward intentions seeing as the wards did not act against Garlan which was also the same for Theon Greyjoy.

"I didn't realize members of Great Houses joined the Citadel. I'd have assumed most would rather settle with some lands and a knighthood." said Harry, ducking under another swipe while using his footwork to constantly keep a distance from the older boy.

"Not everyone follows that path. Some choose to serve the gods by joining a sept. Some find their calling in academics so they seek their place in the Citadel. Some people study at the Citadel but don't join the order of maesters."

Harry noted an air of seriousness enter the brown eyes of the Tyrell boy and he braced himself. His nimble body allowed him to dodge quickly but all those pads tightly fastened on his body were a drag on his speed. The next couple of minutes were quite difficult for Harry. He dodged and defended with his shield as Garlan rained blow after blow in quick succession.

"Enough!" Ser Rodrick called out to them after a while.

By that time, Harry was on his last legs so to speak. He took a few hits on his forearm but the pads kept him safe. Even so, he could feel the stinging pain in his arms from Garlan's practice sword.

"Very well-done Garlan. Your footwork is quite good. You need more speed on your swings and to anticipate your opponent's reaction." Ser Rodrick gave the verdict which made Garlan preen.

"I'll keep that in mind Ser." Garlan happily agreed.

Ser Rodrick then turned his judging eyes on Harry.

"As for you Harrion, you need to build more upper body strength. Your footwork was the only thing that gave you an advantage. You need to work on deflecting the sword with your shield until you develop more upper body strength."

Harry just nodded accepting the advice. It was no easy task to move inside the guard of an opponent and try to deflect attacks when his fighting style has always revolved around creating breathing room for using spells. Those were old instincts that cannot easily be overcome.

"Take a break for a few minutes. After that, you switch roles. Garlan will be defending and Harrion will be on the offensive."

Harry and Garlan took a spot near a shaded area of the yard to relax their bodies. Harry took the magical flask that supplied him with a constant stream of clean water from his bag.

"I still can't fathom how that flask can hold so much water." said Garlan, looking at the flask in Harry's hand with wonder shining in his brown eyes.

"That's quite simple to explain, magic." Harry smiled at the cross look that graced Garlan's face.

"Yes, I get that. But where does the water come from and how can a small bottle never go dry?" Garlan asked squinting his eyes at the flask like it was the greatest mystery that has to be solved.

"Some mysteries are better left unexplained." Harry laughed at the frustrated groan that greeted his answer.

"Harry!" Jon shouted as he ran towards him.

"What happened?" Harry asked as Robb and Jon were supposed to be visiting Wintertown with Maester Luwin.

"The guards father sent to the town found some foreigners. You wouldn't believe who they are." Jon gasped out.

"Why wouldn't I believe…" Harry trailed off as the training yard began to buzz as the guards of Winterfell came about escorting a group of foreigners with darker skin into the castle.

"Look at the tall man in the front. Look at the sigil embroidered on his sleeve." said Jon.

Sure enough, Harry could make out a sigil on the tunic of this foreigner.

"Martell." Garlan hissed, his anger palpable. "It's Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper of Dorne!"