Chapter 56: Evidence

After both Warlocks had been delt with Aiden searched thru the old womans clothes and located a letter. This was why he didn't have Flamebird kill the woman, otherwise this letter would've been lost.

As Aiden pulled out the letter and a few hundred gold dragons, he used his heat vision to turn her body as well as the bodies of the bandits into ash, then used his breath to destroy the spell circle that was drawn with the bone dust.

Approaching the two dragon bones they had used Aiden picked them up, they still had quite a bit of magic in them, he could use them to create various things, so he put them into his storage space and then turned to Flamebird.

"Alright, why don't you go get your husband and you two destroy the House of Undying, just don't go overboard, Qarth has a high population, so don't destroy any homes, just the tower. Once your done both of you hunt down the Undying that isn't within the tower. When I was in Essos, they said that the Undying are vindictive and never forget even the slightest provocation. So make sure you kill every last one of them, we don't want future troubles to arise." Aiden said as he pet Flamebird's head in appreciation.

Letting out a satisfied rumble Flamebird gave a nod and licked Aidens face, "Alright, geez. You do realize your still big right." Aiden said exasperatedly.

Her tongue was huge so it covered his whole face. Flamebird let out a several hisses that could only be taken as a chuckle, she then spread her wings and launched up into the sky to head towards the Fortress of Solitude to get Nightwing.

Aiden chuckled at her antics and took to the sky as well, he needed to get to Winterfell to show Ned the letter. Aiden didn't know what to think, he had mixed emotions regarding Catelyn's letter. He didn't care what she thought of himself, but she endangered the other Targaryen children with this letter, something he couldn't let slide.

'Had one of my siblings came across them first, the consequences would've been extremely dire. To have a bond severed like that would've damaged both the dragon and the one bonded to it. The magic in their blood would go berzerk, damaging the internal organs causing permanent damage. The dragon too would be stunted and possibly become crazed, the bond is more than just being connected, the dragons personality is influenced by the one bonded to it. To have that bond severed forcefully and attached to another while so young, it would develop a split personality.' Aiden thought as his he flew to Winterfell, his anger was building as he thought of all the trouble that Catelyn could have caused.

Even one crazed dragon could bring untold destruction on the land. Dragons weren't just dumb beasts, they were highly intelligent, adaptive, and cunning. They were apex predators no matter what world they are in, the only thing above them are other older and larger dragons.

Landing within the courtyard, Aiden began to make his way into the castle, the guards he walked by shivered in fear. Not one made an attempt to stop him.

Seeing his eyes with a faint red glow, and the aura that emitted off his body made it a struggle for them to breath. As he made his way thru the castle, all the servants froze as he passed by them. It wasn't until he reached the dining hall that he realized he was letting his anger show.

As he entered the hall where Ned and his family were eating along with Lyanna, the Kingsguard, and Dacey, everyone froze in fear. Catelyn shivered in fright the most, she began to prey to the Seven for help.

"Aiden!" Dacey and Lyanna shouted at the same time.

"What?" Aiden responded angrily.

"Wh...what happened to you?" Dacey asked fearfully. She had never seen him like this before.

"Nothing. I took care of it." Aiden responded as he looked at Catelyn.

"Aiden, you need to calm down. Your scaring us." Lyanna said hoping to calm him down, she had a bit more experience with Aiden than the others so she knew something had pissed him off.

"Deep breaths Aiden, your scaring the children. You don't want that right, you don't want to be feared by them. So take deep breaths son." Lyanna said calmly as she shivered from the aura he emitted.

Aiden closed his eyes and did as she suggested, he took several deep breaths, each one getting slower than the last. After each breath the aura he emitted reduced until it completely subsided.

When he opened his eyes, the red glow was gone, his deep blue eyes were back to normal. Dacey ran over and gave him a hug, she could tell something was wrong.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Aiden started to say by Lyanna cut him off as she walked over to him.

"It's ok, I know you didn't do it on purpose, what's wrong. What happened, and don't say nothing, cause I know that isn't true." Lyanna stated as she too gave him a comforting hug to get him to talk.

Aiden pulled out the letter, and looked at Catelyn causing her to freeze. She didn't know why but a really bad feeling began to take hold.

"I have something you need to see Lord Stark, I took this from our unwanted guests. Two Warlocks from the House of the Undying." Aiden responded, to which Lyanna scrunched her brow and grabbed the letter from Aiden's hand.

"House of the Undying? Warlocks? What are you talking about?" Ned asked curiously. He wasn't well versed with Essos, he and the North rarely ever had dealings with Essos, they didn't have anything to trade and the north never dealt with the Iron Bank.

"They are a feared group of sorcerers based out of Qarth. They are wicked to the core and kill any who slight them. But what were they doing here?" Lyanna explained as she began to open the letter.

Shortly after reading it her face changed drastically, "You fucking bitch! I should kill you where you stand!" Lyanna shouted as she stormed over to Catelyn causing her to quickly stand up and move away in fear.

Ned quickly got in between his sister and his wife, "Woah now Lyanna, calm down..."

"Don't you tell me to calm down Ned, your cunt of a wife just put my children at risk. I swear to the Gods Ned you better get out of my way." Lyanna said angrily.

"Let's talk this out sister, you haven't told me anything. Can I see that, please?" Ned asked calmly.

Lyanna shoved the letter into Ned chest, "If you don't handle this in a satisfactory manner Ned, you will never see me or any of my children again. You will be my enemy for as long as that fucking fish wife of yours is alive. I will take her head myself."

Ned quickly read the letter, his face dropped, he recognized Catelyn's handwriting, he couldn't believe what he was reading. His wife practically tried to have the faith attack his home, their home.

Ned turned to Catelyn who was shivering in fear, when Ned began to read it she looked to see what it was and was shocked, she couldn't understand how Aiden got that letter, it was supposed to go to the High Septon in Kings Landing.

"Why Catelyn? Do you not care at all for our family? Do you not know what this would've caused?" Ned asked disappointingly. He knew had the Faith received this letter not only would they had come after Aiden and his nephew, they would've trampled all over the north.

The Faith hated the northern religion, they would've harmed any and all small folk as they burned towns and villages to the ground. The Faith Militant was similar to the Catholic Church's Crusaders, during the crusades the priests basically gave the crusaders free reign to rape and pillage any non christian, telling them the more they killed the more god would forgive their sins, so the crusaders didn't just kill armies, they killed women and children, even babes, none were safe from their onslaught.

Not all crusaders were like that, the issue was the church used criminals and death row prisoners to fill their numbers, telling them that should they put in seven years of time fighting in the holy war, all their past transgressions would be forgiven. So they were an army comprised mostly of the worst kind of men.

"I did what I had to Ned, for our family. You saw him just now, you felt it too. He is evil incarnate..." Catelyn started to speak but Lyanna swiftly moved around Ned, he had his attention on his wife so he didn't notice her move.

Lyanna punched Catelyn in her face knocking her to the ground, "Your the evil bitch fish! You and your fucked up New Gods can go to hell."

Ned quickly held Lyanna back, "Enough Lyanna, I said I will handle this. I am the Lord of Winterfell. It's my duty to punish, not yours."

Ned then called for the guards, "Guards! Arrest Lady Stark, bring her and follow me. Catelyn, I warned you what I would do should you continue down this road, but I guess that warning wasn't enough."

"No Ned you..." Catelyn pleaded but Ned cut her off.

"Aye, and I will." Ned stated as he watched the guards pick her up off the floor and he made his way outside.

As Ned got outside the hall he ordered for oil to be brought along and a torch. Lyanna followed after Ned to see what he was planning as Aiden began to try to calm the Stark children.

When Ned arrived in front of the sept he had built for Catelyn, several guards came with vates of oil.

"Splash the whole place with oil, be thorough when you do." Ned ordered as Catelyn sobbed in horror.

"Don't do this Ned." Catelyn pleaded.

"You left me with no choice. You endangered not only our family, you put every man, woman, and child of the north in danger. All for what? Some belief? You would bring ruin to my lands, our childrens lands. Even if we stopped the Faith, the other northern lords would've seen my head removed and they would chose a new Warden, and I wouldn't blame them." Ned said sternly, his face was cold, anger and frustration was evident in his voice.

Once the men exited the sept, the vates empty of the oil, Ned grabbed the torch and proclaimed loudly, "This is the North. I am to blame for allowing this ignorant religion that looks down on our Gods to grow. I will rectify that issue here and now. Winter is coming, and we need to stand together, it's the only way we can face the harsh winter and survive. From now on, those that wish to worship the seven will need to go to White Harbor, I shall not let one person's folly effect those who are loyal to the North. Lord Manderly has been a loyal vassel to the North, he respects our ways even though he follows the Seven. We take care of our own, but should one day they also begin to show disloyalty or show disrespect for our ways, I will do the same to the sept there. The North Remembers."

With that Ned tossed in the torch, instantly the oil caught fire and spread rapidly. Within seconds the fire roared to life as it began to burn thru all the furniture and decorations within.

Catelyn could only watch in horror as everything she created within the sept burned. Although Ned had commissioned it to be built, it was she and Septa Mordain who spent weeks decorating it and turned it into a respectable place of worship.

The fire quickly engulfed the building that was once a Sept, the flames shot high into the sky, which caused many from the town to come spectate, they gathered to watch as the heat intensified, as if fed by an outside source. It was as if the Old Gods themselves had wanted to ensure such a building never existed.

Catelyn slumped in defeat, had the guards not been holding her she would've fallen to the ground. Lyanna nodded in satisfaction, she couldn't understand why her brother would build such a obviously disrespectful building within Winterfell. Had their father still been alive he never would've allowed such a thing to be built.

The north hated the Faith of the Seven, not just because it was a religion that required money from it's believers, or because of the fact that they used the Iron Throne as a springboard to try to make themselves the sole religion of Westeros. It was due to their disrespect towards their beliefs which have been here long before even when the first men arrived in Westeros.

The First Men had adopted it from the indigenous races of Westeros after they stopped warring with the nonhuman races that lived on the continent. Children of the Forest, Giants, and Deep Ones all originally worshipped the Old Gods. The Deep Ones did eventually brake away from worshipping the Old Gods and began worshipping the Drowned God.

The Deep Ones were a race of half-human half-fish, that unlike the Giants and Children of the Forest were violent creatures. They came in many different shapes, such as mer-people, seal-men, walrus-men, amongst others. They constantly attacked the coastlines during the Dawn Age, killing any man, while they bred with the women.

It didn't matter what race, they were basically against everyone. The Deep Ones had eventually been wiped out due to their violent nature, in fact it was how the Ironborn came about. They were originally First Men who invaded the Iron Islands which was where the Deep Ones lived, then like their ancestors did with the Children, they adopted the religion of the Drowned God after they had wiped out the Deep Ones.

As the fire raged, Ned turned and then decreed, "Until further notice, Lady Catelyn Stark is stripped of her power within Winterfell and is to be confined within the Tower until she has seen the error of her ways. Her orders are not to be followed, but she is to be treated with respect, she may no longer be the Lady of Winterfell, but she is still my wife and the mother to the heirs of Winterfell. My sister Lyanna Targaryen will take on the title of Lady of Winterfell until Robb comes of age and finds himself a wife. Should anything happen to me or should I not be in Winterfell, Lady Lyanna Targaryen will run things in my absence until Robb is old enough to take on the role."

The crowd of northerners cheered at Ned's words, they weren't big fans of Catelyn since she looked down on them, constantly trying to convert them into followers of the Seven which they didn't like. They tolerated her only because of their loyalty to the Starks, so they still showed her the respect her position demanded.

Hearing the cheers of the people behind her, Catelyn no longer resisted and was taken away to her new quarters. She was still treated as a noble, not put into the dungeons, but to her it may as well been. Her hatred for Aiden and the Targaryens grew, blaming them for her predicament.