27 Chapter 27 - Adventures in the North 24.
[Chapter Size: 3956 Words.]
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JON POV
Northern Kingdom, north of the Glovers' territory, 290DC, 2 days later.
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Jon woke up in his personal tent with a strong headache, wondering about the first thing on his mind – what happened.
"I see you've woken up..." He turned to the source of the voice and saw Ducken standing by his side.
"How long have I been unconscious?" Jon asked before anything else.
"2 days, I'm quite surprised, you woke up before William, given that you took two of those damned potions, your body should be quite stressed out by now." Ducken said, raising an eyebrow.
"My body is special..." Jon shrugged.
"Damn you, brat, along with your blessings from our gods." Ducken teased, but he still had a smile on his face.
"By the way, there's a young lady who refused to go home before talking to you, even though your men seemed eager to take her away as soon as possible, but the girl is quite stubborn." Ducken spoke again in a playful tone, making Jon raise an eyebrow.
Jon got up from bed; Ducken didn't protest, knowing how stubborn this child was, and followed him out of the tent. Jon still had a strong headache, and the daylight didn't help much. Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the daylight, Jon saw the camp surrounded by Glovers' men, a bit away from his animals and giants.
The first thing they noticed was the animals near Jon's tent, which had been still, going out to hunt only a few times, suddenly standing up with the group of cubs, making people a bit uneasy because even other animals like bears and shadow cats did the same.
They soon noticed the boy with his loyal guard, and they realized that the animals reacted to him. Still, they were stunned by the female giant, now without armor, running towards the boy too.
"I still wonder if I'm dreaming..." One of them said, looking at the bizarre scene.
"Yeah, I still can't believe my eyes." Others said, seeing the boy petting his animals.
"He really is as the rumors point out, but there was nothing about giants, can you believe that? Giants, giants in the North, fully armed with powerful armor, did you see what happened to the savages?" Another said, Jon seemed dissatisfied in front of them, while the giant hugged him tightly.
"I don't want to be against them, ever. They wiped out a force of almost 200 savages without a single loss!" Another said.
"Are those other giants laughing?" Another noticed.
"How bizarre, they clearly aren't human, who would laugh like that!"
Meanwhile, a girl and some guards approached Jon and his group, quite cautiously, as he was surrounded by powerful animals and a giant, while the other giants seemed to enjoy the scene.
"Are you Jon Snow, the little Jon?" After making Seryna stop hugging him, he looked towards the source of the voice. It was a girl with much better clothes than him, whom he found in the savage camp; this was Ester Glover (OC), the youngest daughter of the lord of Deepwood Motte.
She approached with noble grace and looked at Jon with a sparkle in her eyes, unafraid of the animals by his side or the giant, who seemed to dislike how the girl looked at Jon. Jon noticed her brown hair and green eyes, a girl who would become very beautiful when she grew up.
"Lady Ester, be careful," he warned, not wanting to provoke any of those animals, even though he had spent several days with them without any accidents.
"It's okay, he's the little Jon!" She argued with her childlike voice.
"I wouldn't say I'm that fanciful little Jon, but I am Jon Snow." Jon spoke with his equally childlike voice.
"Yes! I've heard about you in many moons, but I never expected you to be as brave as in the stories!" She seemed quite fascinated and smitten, something common at her age; even here in the North, young girls always hope to marry someone they dream of. Even at 8 namedays, Ester Glover admired Jon and dreamed of marrying someone like him after hearing all about the little hero of the North.
"I'm flattered, my lady, but tales are always more exaggerated than the deeds themselves." Jon said politely.
"No! I don't believe you, Jon Snow. You are my hero, and not just me, all the women owe you, the hero of the North!" She protested, and the guards smiled at that.
Jon sighed and looked at the group of women in one corner, assisted by the Glover men; they looked at him with a grateful gleam but didn't approach because they were afraid of the animals after what they witnessed.
"She speaks the truth, Jon. You saved them all, and it wasn't easy to gather all the captives after you fainted. Some saw the wolves killing the savages in the woods, and we had some work convincing them that everything was safe now."
"I see..." It was the only thing Jon managed to say.
Thus, Jon stayed with his group for one more day in the camp to recover his strength before leaving. During this time, he was quite pursued by the other girl; the girl was practically courting him, not the other way around, but Jon knew he didn't intend to get too involved with this noble, as he was still a bastard, but he was polite with her as he prepared his group for the journey.
A day later, they bid farewell to the Glover soldiers' group, who didn't fail to thank Jon and the others for their service to their house. Ester Glover seemed reluctant to see her first childhood crush leave, but Jon said that maybe one day he would accept the invitation to visit her home.
Leaving the 20 wild prisoners they captured in the attack with the Northern soldiers, the two groups separated after saying their goodbyes, one to the south, and Jon, instead of continuing north, went east with something else in mind.
Jon had no idea how his actions would not only be discussed in the kingdom as a new topic of Little Jon but would also be a subject to be discussed in the king's court in King's Landing in the coming weeks.
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Varys POV
King's Landing, 290DC, Some days later, before these events were heard by the king.
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I returned from Essos after 6 moons; the king sent me to the other continent to investigate the Targaryen children and their whereabouts. I returned a week ago, and I am still gathering my little birds' whispers; however, I have no more time. The king and his queen demand a meeting to know everything that is happening in the Seven Kingdoms currently and what has happened in the last 6 months without their master spy on the council, opting to find out through other means, but nothing compared to the effectiveness and details of his skills.
I left my room and went straight to the meeting room; the meeting would start in 10 minutes. As I passed by some guards, none golden, as the king was not yet present, I opened the door and saw some people in the room; there was Prince Stannis with his usual scowl, Prince Renly with a gentle smile, and Jon Arryn with his serious and tired face.
"Oh Varys! Now that you've arrived, tell us how the journey to the yellow lands on the other side of the sea went!" Renly asked, referring to Essos and its sands as desert lands.
"They could be more enjoyable, my lord, if it weren't for the heat..." Varys replied calmly.
"Did the famous perfume of the king's master spy not have any effect on your travels? Hahahaha!" Renly laughed at his joke, making Varys force a small smile but no response to it.
"I'm sure the master spy took care not to stink up his travels, Renly." Stannis mocked with the same scowl.
"Stannis, have more sense of humor; you'll never make friends like that!" Renly teased his brother, who looked at the younger one with a sharp gaze.
"Please, Prince Stannis, Prince Renly, let's get back to the focus here. I expect some good news about the remaining dragons in Essos." The Hand of the King, Jon Arryn, tried to appease the impending fight the brothers were about to have and looked at Varys changing the subject.
The four talked for the next few minutes without a major topic or significant details, waiting for the other council members and the king himself to arrive for official matters. It didn't take long for the king to enter with his commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Barristan Selmy, behind, along with the rest of the council. Robert, accompanied by a Kingsguard who was part of the council, and Queen Cersei, who also had the right to bring someone from the Gold Cloaks for her security, brought her own brother, Jaime Lannister.
The Grand Maester of the Citadel and the one in charge of royal affairs and the Red Keep, Pycelle, and the Master of Coin, Baelish, followed closely behind as the last members of the council.
"Eunuch! We're finally here to see you. Now spill everything you've found out about my realms and any news I need to know!" Robert, who never attended council meetings, didn't waste any time and thundered these words, heading to the table to start drinking wine.
He poured himself wine since there wasn't a royal cupbearer, and he didn't allow that Lannister, who was his careless squire, to participate in these royal matters.
'Robert never changes, even being away for 6 moons,' Varys thought and finally addressed the entire council.
"Regarding the Targaryen children, they were in Lys, my king, where I followed their tracks. Viserys was known as the Beggar King after his protector, the former Kingsguard of the Targaryen family, Ser Willem, died in Braavos. They sold Rhaella Targaryen's crown in the same city to escape." He said, and the King began to laugh at the dragons' misfortunes.
"I should have gone to Braavos and Lys to see that! HAHAHHAHA!" He thundered. Varys sighed and continued.
"But, unfortunately, my king, everyone keeping an eye on the Targaryens lost their tracks after Lys." The king quickly shifted to a scowl in his mood.
"Damn it, eunuch! You've been away for 6 moons and still lost their tracks under your nose? I'll drink now because I'm in a bad mood. Now I want to know about my kingdom, and tell me what I still don't know!" The King was angry now and began taking large gulps of wine. Everyone in the room thought this behavior was normal; they also wanted to know my news, so they let the king and his wine be, looking at me. Without changing my neutral expression, I continued.
"Prince Oberyn is traveling in Essos with his daughters and Princess Arianne Martell, and Dorne still remains isolated from the rest of the realms." He said.
"Tell me when those sand-snake bitches aren't isolated?" Cersei scoffed. And Varys continued, ignoring her comment.
"In the Reach, there are some internal conflicts, but the Tyrells are resolving them. The family also hired a famous knight from the east to examine their crippled son, but the result was not as they expected..." When Varys finished, the king didn't miss the opportunity to mock the families that fought with dragons.
"The roses keep failing at everything they try. Well done!" He said after finishing the gulp.
"In the West, everything continues as normal, as does the Stormlands. In the Vale, there are some movements from the mountain clans, but I believe the Hand already knows about it." Cersei looked proud when her father's kingdom was mentioned, and Jon Arryn nodded about what was happening in his lands. Varys then continued.
"In the Riverlands, Edmure Tully has been a bit restless in recent days with his sister's situation in the North and showing discontent with Ned Stark." Varys now drew everyone's attention.
"HUH?! What is that fish doing to act like that with Ned!?" Robert growled quickly, not liking the news that someone is furious with his best friend. He may be the king of the Seven Kingdoms, but he will always favor his friend.
"And what's in the North for an heir of a lord paramount to show such behavior, Master of Whispers?" Stannis asked, and the King, already wanting to know about his best friend, stopped drinking at this moment.
"I must say it's the most tumultuous realm in the past few moons, my king. A lot is happening in the North, and most of it has to do with Lord Stark's bastard child, who is turning the entire North upside down..." He said and saw how people looked at him with eyes asking for an enlightening explanation. Besides his usual enigmas, they didn't know much about what was happening in the North lately, as it was the most isolated realm, and it was challenging to place spies. This didn't stop them from hearing about Jon Snow and his adventures in the last moons through bards, merchants, and travelers.
"I know that Catelyn hates that child, and if he's in the northern news, it makes sense her brother in the Riverlands is getting agitated with Cat's husband," Baelish commented with a smile.
"Spill it already, what did Ned's son do!" Robert couldn't take it anymore.
"To start, 8 moons ago, he was caught stealing in the castle and was sent to the Wall for 1 year, as some already know." This caught some of them by surprise since they weren't aware of the news. What surprised them was that Ned sent his child to the Wall after he was caught stealing.
Cersei sneered with a smile; she loves any bad things about the wolves in the North.
"Damn bastards!" Jon Arryn grumbled, even though he already knew about these events; the man follows the teachings of the Seven strictly.
Varys sighed and continued.
"But on the way to the Wall, a summer snowstorm caught the group, and the child vanished in the midst of all the adults..." Now he could see the looks of disbelief.
"Lord Stark sent messages throughout the North asking for information and offering a large sum of money for any true information about his lost son," I reported.
"Of course, Ned would do that," the king proclaimed unsurprisingly.
"But the Lord of Winterfell himself got no news in the next 3 or 4 weeks, but then bards started singing a new ballad from the southeast of the kingdom. The ballad is called 'Little Jon and the 12 Outlaws,' where an 8-year-old child fights alongside 5 more farmers to protect the farm from being raided by 12 horse-riding outlaws. They win without a single farmer dying, and on the outlaw side, it resulted in 11 dead, 6 of them made by the child himself." Varys said calmly.
This caused silence in the room the next moment; no one knew what to say about this. It was a minor event to just mention a dozen outlaws, but to say that the 8-year-old child killed half of them? What kind of joke is this!
"Those North savages have no sense of absurdity, and now they sing fantasies..." Cersei growled with attention that a bastard from the North was gaining. She heard the song like everyone here, but no one paid much attention to it.
Once the queen spoke, no one knew what else to comment on; they just wanted to hear the rest.
"The weirdest part is yet to come. The song says the boy blessed the farm's harvest in exchange for a map of the kingdom, and the harvest flourished overnight. Little Jon killed most of the outlaws with a bow at 80 yards, but the other 5 were killed by horses and giant wolves that they say Eddard Stark's bastard can control. In the North, Jon went from a thief in Winterfell to a hero blessed by the old gods after hundreds of years, according to all the rumors I've heard, of course." He finished, now the room was even more shocked.
"HAHAHAHAHAHHA!" The King began to laugh. "Looks like Ned knows how to raise his children well, HAHAHAHAHA! Now I'll drink to celebrate! Eunuch, tell me more about the boy; I bet the story didn't end with this." Robert began to drink with a look of anticipation; Cersei looked scowling at Robert. Jon and Renly just mocked that everything was just fantasy. Stannis, Ser Barristan, and Ser Jaime had curious expressions. Baelish had an indifferent look.
"Besides Lord Stark going to the farm and confirming that Jon Snow indeed helped win the battle against the outlaws, other rumors surfaced in the north, in the city FrostRoar further north from that farm. Little Jon appeared in the city and started handing out gold coins to orphanages and bought 5 carts of supplies, hiring a young blacksmith and the leader of the local guard." Varys finished.
Ser Barristan hearing this, commented.
"That's more realistic. However, still too much for just an 8-year-old child to do it all alone; he shouldn't even be traveling alone to begin with." He declared, and everyone agreed.
"HAHAHA, this is getting interesting. Tell me more!" Robert seemed like a child listening, and Cersei couldn't take it.
"You're the King; you should give this attention to Joffrey and not be so interested in an unknown wild bastard from an isolated kingdom!" She snapped.
"Shut up, woman, my son under your wing is too much of a coward to do half of this! If he were a fifth of what I heard from Ned's bastard, I would be a proud father!" He thundered, leaving the queen furious, but she stayed quiet.
"Wait, Robert, do you believe all of this?!" Stannis said with a harsh voice. "Why wouldn't I believe it? It sounds very interesting!" Robert declared and looked at Varys with some expectation.
"Well, continuing the story, before leaving the city, Jon Snow got into a fight with the son of the local minor noble, who accused him of theft. Young Jon brought him to his place, due to Northern laws, and wrote a letter to Winterfell in front of more than 40 people. The humiliated teenager challenged him to a duel, thinking he could easily win against a child 4 years younger. From what I heard, the 12-year-old boy is sadistic and likes to torture animals. At the start of the commotion, he wanted to take Jon's hand through his guards." All the knights in the room became angry instantly, a truly cowardly act, but the king got even angrier.
"WHO IS THE BASTARD? I'LL HAVE HIM HANGED! PYCELLE, PREPARE A LETTER!" The King was moved by the cowardice against his friend's son. Varys sighed and said before Pycelle could respond.
"My king, I think that won't be necessary. This happened almost 6 moons ago, and when the fight started, the same sadistic sure of his easy victory lost his sword hand with just two moves from the bastard. There were many witnesses, and all confirm the boy's swordsmanship, unique for his age. Rumors say he'll be the greatest sword in the North in the future." No one said anything, but you could see the royal guards with a gleam in their eyes.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA DAMN IT, NED, WHAT DO YOU FEED YOUR CHILDREN?" The King thundered cheerfully, while drinking again.
"There's more, my king..." said Varys.
"Then speak up, Eunuch!" Robert replied with joy.
"Jon Snow left the city shortly after that but was cheered as a hero all the way to the gate. Ned received a merchant from the city in his castle and told him what happened. Lady Stark wasn't very pleased with the news of Lord Stark's bastard son, so she ended up showing her discontent in public. This made rumors spread that Jon Snow fled the castle because of the mistreatment by the stepmother, who claims that none of her children can compare to the bastard, and that Jon is more Stark than any of her other children." Varys said.
"Now it makes sense. Imagine the lady of the most important house in the kingdom receiving such bad attention that reflects on her children. That would disrupt their rule..." Renly said, reflecting.
"Yes, but that wasn't widely proclaimed initially. Lord Glover went to the city for some investigation, and they discovered a large slave scheme ingrained in the kingdom in the coming moons. Lord Stark called his banners and summoned many great vassals, starting a major campaign in the North." He said, and Robert opened his eyes with this.
"HOW COME I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT SOMETHING SO BIG!" He thundered, and many lowered their eyes with that, as no one told him about the events in the North without Varys present in the last moons.
"Jon! Why didn't I know that Ned was in a war in the North!" He snarled.
"Your grace, I spoke with Ned during that time with letters and knew it was just a minor event that Ned could handle alone. It wouldn't need your attention for that..." He said, knowing that Robert would go to the North as soon as he knew of something like that, but the crown wouldn't have the money for a campaign to the North, and it was getting increasingly in debt.
"You better keep me informed about everything happening in Ned's realm!" He thundered, and Jon Arryn nodded carefully.
"Continue, Varys!" He proclaimed, and Varys continued.
"Well, then a hunt against the slavers began. The lord of House Frotniid was executed in FrostRoar, and Ned went to Bear Island to execute Jorah Mormont, who was also involved in the human trafficking. But the lord of Bear Island escaped with his wife, Lynesse of House Hightower, off the continent."
"These events started just as Jon Snow left the city, so the people of the North strengthened their belief that the boy is blessed by their gods, and public dissatisfaction against Lady of Winterfell and her heir increased," said Varys. Everyone didn't know what to say about it. Even Robert fell silent.
"There has been no more news of Jon Snow in the last 6 moons, but the North still talks about him and his brother in Winterfell. The heir doesn't seem very pleased with everyone talking about Jon Snow; he apparently insults him whenever he can. As for Lord Stark, he's quite busy to know about these things and has been uncovering human trafficking schemes throughout the entire North. He's been at the last base in the North for some time, which is having difficulty, as it has a few hundred Essos mercenaries in the garrison as the last resistance." Varys finished.
"Ned has the North stirred up. We should join in too, Jon. I'll grab my hammer again!" The king seemed quite excited, making Jon Arryn see that his greatest fears of how Robert would act were coming true.
"I don't think Ned needs our help, Robert. He would have summoned us with a letter for help, and the North has much more than hundreds of men to deal with this," Jon declared.
"Very well, Jon, and Varys, I want to know everything happening in the North from now on!" The king said firmly; it was not a request.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Varys said, and the meeting continued with matters around the city of King's Landing. The king lost interest and started drinking, pretending to be listening.
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