-Chapter 37-

-POV 3rd person-

"Ned, you cannot follow Jon in his madness, he is fighting against my family, he will kill my brother, my father, my uncle, and my sister, you must stop him," said the Lady of Winterfell, kneeling before him.

"I can do nothing, he is the king and I am loyal to my king."

"He is a Targaryen, you have already overthrown a tyrannical king."

"I advise you to stop there before you say something you will end up regretting, he is MY son."

"No, he is not your son, he has never been your son, before he was your bastard, and now he is nothing more than your sister's son, Ned, you are going to allow your nephew to exterminate the maternal family of your TRUE son, MY FAMILY," she said, ending in screaming tears.

"Whatever you say, I must go, otherwise he will surely kill them, I have already wasted enough time here, if he realizes that I have yielded and delayed the gathering of the army of the North, the southerners will poison his mind," said the Warden of the North, looking at his wife who was desperately clinging to his leg to prevent him from leaving.

Robb Stark, also present, nodded uncomfortably and said, "I agree with Father, if we leave Jon with the Lannisters, they will manipulate him, everyone knows the contempt he has for you, and they could use that to turn him against us."

"It's Jon, he will not attack us, he lived here all his childhood," said Theon as if he was still talking about the 10-year-old boy who took his beatings without complaint.

"You understand nothing at all," said Catelyn, agitated, "Jon will not forgive me, he is vengeful, and my family will not kneel to him."

This triggered her husband's anger, who said sharply, "And whose fault is that? You were horrible to him, and it's your father who denied him his birthright, your father only wants to become a king without a crown even with one foot in the grave exactly like Tywin Lannister."

"Like you and you were supposed to be his father," responded Catelyn Tully, furious against her husband's remarks.

"I have never done such a thing," said the Warden of the North, shaking his head.

"Oh no?! You always knew who he was, and to protect your friend Robert Baratheon, you chose to convince him to join the Night's Watch so he wouldn't be a threat!!! So now tell me transparently, was it an honorable choice to raise the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms as a bastard?"

The couple looked intensely at each other for a few seconds, and finally, Catelyn Stark stepped back, realizing she had gone too far, and said in a docile tone:

"I apologize."

"Our troops will station for a week before heading south, that's all the time I can give you," said Ned Stark, letting out a deep and long resigned sigh.

"Thank you," said Catelyn, relieved as it would give her family time for the situation to evolve in their favor.

As the tension in the main hall of the castle subsided, the castle's maester entered with a grim face and said:

"There's no longer a need for you to quarrel, King Aegon VI has destroyed your sister's army."

"How so?" said Catelyn Stark, dismayed as she didn't know her sister had sent an army, and the Bloody Gate was impregnable.

"Literally, the allied forces of the Vale and the Riverlands waited with 110,000 soldiers and decided to do battle at Riverrun two days ago..."

"And?"

"And it was a total destruction for your family's forces, nearly tens of thousands of people died, and thanks to a quite incredible strategy, Jon... well, King Aegon managed to emerge victorious from this conflict, everything is written in much more detail in this letter that has come here."

"Jon's eagle."

"Yes, his own eagle."

"What happened to my family and the loyal men of my father, can we surely do something?"

"All the infantrymen are either dead or captives; they will be sent to Harrenhal, which fell into the King's hands more than a week ago, now he is at the gates of Riverrun, and it wouldn't surprise me if he had managed to take it," said Maester Luwin.

"Incredible," Robb let out, with stars in his eyes which he decided to hide once he realized his mother was glaring at him with almost fire-spitting eyes.

"It's not the only news; two letters have arrived here," said the Winterfell Maester.

"Read them," said the silent wolf.

"The first is a letter from Jon, or rather King Aegon," said the maester, hesitating a bit to read it.

"Read it," said Eddard Stark.

"It's quite short,

Lord Stark,

There's no longer any need for you to tire yourself or your men, let them stay warm in the North and stay there with your wife because if I see a single soldier from the North south of Moat Cailin, I will personally take him down.

This is not a threat; it's a promise.

You have made your choice

Farewell

Aegon Targaryen VI of his name, Legitimate Sovereign of Westeros and the 7 Kingdoms, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, White Wolf, and Protector of the Realm.

'Shit'

"He knows," said Theon.

"Of course he knows, Father has been back for months, and the army hasn't even left Winterfell," said Robb, sniffing at the obvious.

Lord Stark slammed his fist against the table, furious, and said:

"Those are Lannister words coming out of his mouth, I no longer recognize him."

Surprisingly, the one who took up the defense was Rodrik Cassel, who had spent the most time in his company, training him from a young age:

"Or maybe he really resents you, I know it's not my place, but I think you made a mistake by not coming to Jon's aid, whoever he is, he is either your son or your nephew, he has always had a good heart and has always been determined, nothing will ever stop him, but he has always loved as much as he hated, it's normal for him to be angry, I would be too if the only people who hadn't yet betrayed me were the Lannisters."

No one said anything, listening carefully to the words of the old knight, a heavy silence hung in the air until finally, Maester Luwin broke it by saying:

"My lord, the next message is just as important, Balon Greyjoy has proclaimed himself King of the Iron Islands."

-POV Eddard Stark-

As if it wasn't enough that Jon has to face the Vale, the Stormlands, the Reach, the Riverlands, and a large part of his own territory, the Crownlands, he must now also face this band of pirates.

I sat down in my seat and then said, "What should we do, according to you, Maester Luwin?"

"I see nothing we can do; our hands are tied until the King lifts the banishment he has placed on you."

"He needs the Starks to defeat these enemies, he will soon realize that," said Robb confidently, which I was not.

They all had Jon in mind, but I saw what he has become, Aegon, a sorcerer wielding magic, and very likely a Warg to be able to control Ghost, the runt of the litter who has grown to a record size even for Direwolves.

"What do you think Balon has in mind, he could have risen and claimed his crown as soon as Robert died, but he does it now, what is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, Balon has always done what Balon wanted," said Rodrik.

"If you'll allow me, I'd like to go talk to my father, I'm his heir, and he will listen to what I have to say."

I hesitated but, seeing the determined look, I crushed all my fears and said:

"I trust you, Theon, I consider you as one of my own sons."

Theon nodded, and then I added:

"I want you to arrange a meeting between us to discuss peace, I don't want another bloodshed between our two houses, enough blood has been spilled."

"Yes, Lord Stark," he said, bowing before going out to prepare for his long journey.