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299 AC, Riverrun…

Rody turned his head to see Lord Umber at his feet, yelling for attention. A great silence befell the hall as every voice was silenced and heads turned to the booming voice.

Greatjon left his seat and slowly came to the center of the hall. Everyone's eyes were on him and Rody could see some Northern nobles stirring from their seats like they were expecting something.

The torches around the hall were creaking against the silence as the Greatjon's voice thundered once again. "I know not about the bastard cunt sitting on that throne, neither I know about Stannis or Renly. They say the cunt is as mad as the Mad King himself and only knows to hide behind his mother's skirt."

Rody heard some approving sounds coming from Riverlander lords. They probably knew more about the royal family than Northerners as they were closer to King's Landing.

"Meanwhile, Stannis disrespect our own Gods. We already know he burnt those Southern Gods, what will stop him from burning our weirwood trees!" Angry shouts rose from the Northern lords, most prominent ones being Lord Karstark and Lady Mormont.

Seeing the approving voices coming around him, Rody saw Greatjon's voice grow louder. "On the other hand, Renly tries to usurp his brother's rights with those prickly summer flowers. Where is the honor in supporting such a claim?"

"Besides, why should Renly rule over me and mine, from some flowery seat in Highgarden? What does he know of the Wall or the wolfswood or the barrows of the First Men?" At that moment, there was no Northerner left without voicing his approval, Rody could even see Robb stirring on his seat.

Rody's eyes went towards Lord Stark but he saw something different in there, a worry he couldn't place anywhere. It was like he was expecting something inevitable but didn't want that to happen.

"I still remember when the raven came to Last Heart, telling about Lord Rickard's death…" When those words were said, some younger lords looked at each other with confusion while the old ones wore a grimace on their faces. Even though it was not talked much, there were no men in the North, who didn't hear about the fate of the late Stark Lord, burned alive by the dragon king. Rody knew about it like all the other Northerners, he heard from his father how the North descended to the South and ended a reign.

"My father was raving to gather our men and march to the South." From the looks of it, there were many who knew about Greatjon's father as Rody saw most old Northern lords nodding their heads. "And when we gathered at the Great Hall of the Winterfell, my father spoke the same words as me."

Greatjon turned his head to his liege lord and looked him in the eye. "Do you remember those words, my lord?"

All heads turned to Lord Stark who was looking at Greatjon with a stoic but resigned look. "Aye, I do."

"It was the dragons we married, and the dragons are the one who wronged us! Why should we bow our heads to someone who will sit on that iron chair?!" Greatjon's words made some Northerners grip their tankards tightly as reminiscing about something.

"You made us all swear an oath to bow our heads as long as we were not wronged once again. And we all bowed our heads for the North's revenge and the North came to the South as united unlike others." Greatjon said.

"Now, we are wronged once again!" Greatjon's eyes roamed through the Northern lords and lastly stayed on Lord Stark. "We did our duty to House Stark, now, it is House Stark's turn to do its duty. I will say those words my father spoke years ago, once again." He reached back over his shoulder and drew his immense two-handed greatsword.

He pointed his greatsword at Lord Stark. "There sits the only king I mean to bow my knee to, m'lords," he thundered. "The King in the North!"

"We fulfilled our oaths." Lord Karstark said. "They can keep their red castle and their iron chair." He eased his longsword from its scabbard. "The King in the North!" he said, kneeling beside the Greatjon.

Northern lords rose to their feet one by one with Rody also amongst them, pulling out their swords, maces and axes, laying before their liege.

The words that were not heard in the Seven Kingdoms since the Conquest were resounding through the Riverrun. Riverlords were looking at each other in dismay. Since the North was declaring its independence, what was the Riverlands going to do?

Lord Stark stood up from his seat, his eyes scanning the room as one by one, the lords pledged their support, their voices ringing out in the hall. Rody felt a surge of pride as he listened to their words. He had always known that the North was a proud and independent people, but he had never imagined that they would take such a bold step as this.

There was a sense of unease in the air, as if everyone knew that this moment would be a turning point for the Seven Kingdoms.

Lord Stark looked at the Greatjon, who was still holding his sword aloft. "You have my thanks, Lord Umber," he said. "Your loyalty to House Stark has never been in question."

The Greatjon grunted in response, a look of fierce pride on his face. Lord Stark turned his attention to the other Northern lords who had knelt before him. The resigned look on his face left and a determination took hold. Rody already knew what Lord Stark's response was going to be but he still held his breath and waited.

"I remember the words spoken in Winterfell years ago, I gave my word to all of you that it was the last time North bowed its head before others. I won't turn back on my words now." Lord Stark nodded, a solemn expression on his face. "However, the North won't forget about its allies either."

Lord Stark's last words were probably directed to the Riverlords as they couldn't hold themselves seated with worry in their eyes because with the North declaring its independence, there were no other kingdoms left to stand side by side with them.

He turned to the Riverlords, his voice rising. "We have fought together, bled together, and died together. The North will stand with Riverlands and secure its borders before retreating to its lands."

Rody watched as a relief washed over Lord Edmure and Blackfish's faces. There was no arguing over whether Riverlands could stand afoot on its own, even before Robb came down with the Northern army, Riverlands were already in shambles, raided over all sides and nearly burnt to the ground.

However, there was one thing that was certain. Rody was serving to a king now…

…

By the time Rody left the hall, the sun was already going down. The news was sure to be spread in a few hours and the course of the war was going to change overnight.

Rody gathered his things before leaving the castle, going towards the camp of his men. None of them knew that he was still alive yet, and they were surely going to be surprised.

He took his time while walking towards his men who were camping at the edge of the river. The mood around was good as with the morale boost coming from the recent battle, men were happy and the drinks were passing around the campfires.

When he arrived over the Greycloaks' camp, he found some of them sitting around a campfire with sullen faces and tankards in their hands. A smile graced Rody's face as he strode towards them.

It had been a really long time since he saw them. He still remembered Benny and Lenny bickering against each other while he scolded them.

Despite Rody coming towards them, none of them raised their heads. They continued drinking from their tankards as the campfire spread sparks of red tongues.

Rody grabbed a tankard from one of them and gulped all of it down. His throat and belly was empty after the long talks in the halls of the Riverrun. While he was doing that, the man whose tankard was stolen rose to his feet with fury but as soon as Rody lowered the now empty tankard, the man's eyes grew wide.

"Captain!!" the man yelled.

The rest of the men sitting around the campfire lifted their heads upon hearing the man and rose to their feets with shock washing over their faces.

"Captain Rody!!"

"Captain is back!"

"It's really him!!"

Several voices ran throughout the Greycloaks' camp as men ran out of their tents to see the commotion. Rody greeted each of them with a hug as he knew all of them from his childhood. They were his friends and he knew each of them would give their lives for him.

"Rody?!" Rody turned his head upon hearing someone calling for his name and expected another hug but instead, he met with a white mass jumping on him.

That was unexpected as he staggered and fell on his back. Rody opened his eyes to see a huge tongue coming towards him. He quickly turned his head and let the tongue take a big lick from his cheek.

"Ghost, get off him now!" Rody raised his head to see Jon coming towards them. Jon pulled Ghost off him and extended a hand to Rody.

Rody grabbed his hand and pulled himself up from the ground and was pulled into another hug as Jon crushed him. Rody smiled and patted him on his back.

"Now, now," Rody forcefully pulled himself off Jon. "It is unbecoming of our commander to show such affection, right boys?!"

Laughs and cackles ran through the camp as the whole group descended and sat down around the campfire. Rody recounted to them his story as all of them listened with rapt attention without taking even a sip from the ales.

"I would like to see that man named Hunter, he could be a great addition to our numbers." Jon said thoughtfully.

"He is someone you can trust your life with." Rody nodded his head. "I will bring him on the morrow."

"Now that we got over my story, tell me about yours. I was on the road the whole time so I don't know anything about what happened." Rody said.

"Nothing important happened, after you sent Sansa's wolf up the road, I took three of them and rode back to Winterfell. Then, word came from the Last Heart about sighting some wildling raiders, so I rode with some Greycloaks to deal with them." Jon continued. "When I came back, I found Lady Stark gone South and Bran nearly got assassinated by some catspaw. Then, we heard news about what happened in the capital. Robb called the banners and we marched to the South. While passing through the Moat Cailin, I heard Arya and Sansa arrive at Winterfell."

Rody looked around the men and turned his head back to Jon. "I guess you left some men up in the Winterfell?"

Jon nodded his head and said, "Aye, I left Lenny and 30 men behind. They will ensure nothing bad happens to Bran and others while we are not there."

"Did you leave Benny as well, he would have nagged me endlessly by now." Rody smirked.

A silence befell as all eyes cast down. Rody looked around questioningly but it did not take long for him to understand what happened.

"He died defending Robb against the Kingslayer." said one of the men, seeing no one willing to talk about it.

"I should have slayed that bastard when I had the chance." Rody clenched his fist as he felt a needle piercing his heart. He and Benny were very close friends. Benny would always boast about his speed to others but even that was not enough in the face of pure skill shown by the Kingslayer.

"He had a father to look after back in Wintertown, now there is no one to take care of the old man." said one of the men while taking a sip from his ale.

"We have plenty of coins to waste back in Winterfell, do you think me and Rody piled them up for nothing?" Jon said, looking at the man.

Rody nodded his head, "The old man will be looked after. And none of you should worry about your loved ones back in Wintertown, even if you fall in the next battle, we will look after them. After all, we are all brothers, who will we trust, if not each other?"

Rody threw his arm around Jon's shoulder and made a sad face while yelling, "That is enough grief for me. Now who will bring me and our commander some good ale?!"

"There were some left in the barrel for one or two tankards," A man with red hair stood up and left to grab two tankards and bring some ale.

Another man with a crooked nose put a smile on his face and asked Rody, "Captain, you said you were in the hall before coming here…"

"Aye, I did," Rody nodded his head carelessly.

"Then, tell us. Did they finally decide whom to support? I bet it will be Stannis." said the man.

Another man with brown hair jumped in, "I tell you, we will be supporting Renly or sit out until one of them comes up on top."

"We could have asked that to Commander if not for Lady Stark." said another while taking a sip from his tankard with a grumpy face.

"I heard you were not allowed to get in the castle?" Rody asked knowingly.

Jon scrunched up his nose, "It's not important. Lady Stark said that a lord's bastard has no place in Riverrun."

"A lord's bastard? So you don't know yet, eh?" Rody grinned and patted Jon on the back. "Well don't you worry anymore!"

"I don't know what?" Jon asked with confusion written on his face.

"Well, you are promoted." Rody smirked.

"Promoted?" Jon furrowed his brows.

"Aye, you were a lord's bastard but now, you are a king's bastard." Rody said.

"Did the captain go nuts?" one of the men whispered loudly to another one without realizing his voice being carried to Rody.

Rody did not mind his words and said, "Well, the Northern lords declared Lord Stark a king. Now we will call him His Grace."

All the sound went still as fire sizzled and eyes grew wide. The man carrying two tankards for Rody and Jon gawked, the tankards left his hands and fell to the ground with a thud.

"My ale!!" Rody looked at the spilled ale on the ground with a sad face while everyone gawked at him.