The Unseen Scribe
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The Rebirth of the Dragons - Chapter 10
🕑 Added 2023-06-18 18:28:19 +0000 UTCChapter 10
Eddard Stark. 289AC
Ned woke up to a good feeling in his loins. He opened his eyes, looked down and saw his wife's raven black hair moving up and down as she worked her mouth on his cock.
"This is a good way to wake up." He said, running his hand through her hair.
His wife looked up, only the tip of his cock now in her mouth, her beautiful violet eyes shining with lust. She winked at him and took all of his length back into her mouth.
Ned moaned as Ashara sucked him, her warm mouth giving him pleasure like only she knew how to do. She went back up, her tongue working the tip of his cock in circular motions. Up and down she went, her tongue bringing him to the heights of pleasure, closer and closer to his release.
"I'm getting close, love." He said in a low voice, moaning at the end.
"Not without me, you won't." Ashara said, taking her mouth out of his cock, the cold of the room hitting his length, bringing a shiver to him after feeling the inside of her warm, wet mouth.
"I think you should return the favor, my love." She said, dragging her body upwards along his own, kissing every part of his body on her way up.
She kissed his mouth at last and then stood up, her knees on the bed on each side of his head, her opening right above his mouth. Ned was more than happy to return the favor.
He attacked her pussy, sometimes sucking on her clit, sometimes plunging his tongue as deep as it could go inside her, sometimes dragging his tongue along her opening and sometimes flickering his tongue on her clit.
Ashara moaned the entire time she rode his face, her deep, lustful moans enough to keep him hard, despite the lack of stimulation. The knowledge that he could bring his beautiful wife to such heights of pleasure enhancing his own, he worked on her for what felt like only a few seconds but he was sure it was minutes, the taste of her bringing enjoyment to him all on its own.
"Stop, i need to feel you inside me." He heard her say.
Her body held against his own, her mouth on his in a deep kiss, her breasts, sculpted by the gods themselves so perfect they were, held against his chest. He felt her hand grab his cock and bring him towards her opening; she dragged him up and down, rubbing the tip of his cock on her folds, until she centered him with her opening and then went down, lowering herself on his shaft, her mouth leaving his and moaning loudly.
They moved slowly, both at the same time as they made love in a sensual way, kissing all the time, their bodies held against each others as they both moved their hips in time to the other.
The slow lovemaking persisted for a few minutes, until Ashara propped herself up on her knees, his cock never leaving her, and she started to ride him hard.
Ned decided to help her; he grabbed her hips and started to thrust hard, every time she went down, he went up. The sounds of their flesh slapping against each other filled the room, as their slow lovemaking turned into hard fucking. They keep going at it, constantly changing pace from slow and sensual to fast and passionate, until Ned decided to change positions again. He rose a little from the bed, his arms going around Ashara's waist as he grabbed her, his strength easily allowing him to move her, his cock never leaving her. They ended up with Ashara on her back, her legs immediately wrapping around him; Ned on top of her, the new position allowing him to control the pace.
Ned started slowly moving his hips again, burying himself deep inside his wife, their lips crashing together as they kissed passionately. Ashara started moving her own hips, meeting his thrusts as much as she could with her legs still wrapped around him. Breaking their kiss Ned started kissing and sucking her neck, he was sure those would leave a mark later but he didn't care. Ashara loved showing the signs of their lovemaking and he enjoyed showing everyone that the most beautiful woman in the world was his.
His movements got faster as they both lost themselves to passion; Ashara moaning more and more as he fucked her as hard as he could, realizing what she wanted, he decided to change positions again, his cock leaving her and drawing a whimper from Ashara.
"Get on all fours." he whispered in her ear.
Ashara gave him a saucy smirk and immediately positioned herself in the way he asked, wiggling her shapely behind in his direction. He wasted no time and buried himself inside her again; giving her no time to rest, he grabbed her by the hips and fucked her hard and fast, drawing long, deep moans from his wife. Ned took his right hand out of his wife's hips and gave her a light slap on the ass, drawing a needy whimper from her.
"Harder." Ashara asked.
Ned was happy to give her what she wanted; he slapped her ass harder, her fair skin reddening with each strike, but her moans showed how much she enjoyed it. Ashara grabbed the headboard to try and steady herself as he continued to fuck her hard, a few moments after she did Ned heard the cracking of wood but he didn't slow down, they had already broken two headboards before, what was another one.
"I'm getting close, love." Ashara said through her moans.
Ned bent down, grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up, her back pressed against his chest. He immediately felt her inner walls tighten around his length as she screamed her orgasm, her pleasure enough to bring him to his own finish as he released his seed deep inside her.
Releasing himself from inside her, he laid down on the bed as he caught his breath, Ashara doing the same by his side, her head coming to rest on his chest. Once he caught his breath, he kissed her head and said.
"As i said before, this is a good way to wake up."
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Ned entered the great hall hand in hand with his wife as they made their way to their seats in the raised platform. After helping Ashara into her seat, he sat on his own chair and looked over the great hall. Many of his bannermen were there, breaking their fasts and talking among themselves, none of his most important bannermen were in the hall at the moment so the raised table was empty except for him and his wife.
He had called his banners when the ironborn rebelled and they had answered, the men of the north were prepared to march and they would be leaving later in the morning. Even though he had no desire to fight for Robert again, so broken was his relationship with his oldest friend, a man he once considered a brother. But Lyanna had sent word from Braavos saying that he should call his banners, the ironborn would never win the war, even without the north's help. But queen Rhaella thought it better for him to participate in the war, instead of showing open hostility, he would establish himself as unwilling, but still an ally of Robert's, so he called his banners.
He didn't call for a full muster, most of the lords had only brought their full time soldiers, he would be marching south with 8,000 men. A large number that would get even larger in the future since the north was experiencing an almost unheard of rise in population.
The many changes he started to make a few years ago had paid off, the new farming communities were working perfectly, and the distribution of work animals and tools meant that there was a lot more farmland being used than ever before. The road between Barrowton and White Harbor was also completed, and while its construction almost emptied the vaults of Winterfell, the moment it was finished the rise in trade it caused, and the taxes that trade brought, started to fill the vaults with gold again, it would take another two to three years for it to pay for itself, but the amount of gold it was already bringing was more than many lords would pay in taxes for the entirety of their lands.
It wasn't only in the south of his lands that trade was improving.
To the west, while the castle was not finished yet, a town was already forming near the burned bay, and Wendel Manderly and his fleet were already making quite a bit of coin, trading as south as Starfall and sometimes going all the way to the summer isles. At the moment the fleet stood at 30 ships, making it the smallest fleet in the western coast of westeros, slightly smaller than the Mallister's at 35, but it was expanding rapidly.
Not to mention the trade north of the wall.
That was a surprise to Ned, but one that was turning out to be highly profitable. All those years ago when Qhorin Halfhand had shown up at Winterfell saying a wildling party was at castle black and wanted to talk to him, he would have never expected what happened. The wildling leaders wanted to rebuild Hardhome, something he thought impossible; even he knew that the wildlings thought the place was cursed. But apparently they received word from an old greenseer that the place was safe again, and they should settle there, an old greenseer that also wanted to talk to him some day; Ned still hadn't decided if he should journey beyond the wall and talk to said greenseer or not.
When he returned from castle black and called his lords at the next harvest feast, was probably the most difficult moment he ever had as lord of Winterfell, there was a moment he thought the lords would rebel at the mere mention of trading with the wildlings and nothing was decided that year, but in the next one he was able to convince his lords to give it a try. The trade started small, and a lot of things were banned from the trade deal, surprisingly the wildlings didn't want steel weapons and armor, something he agreed with his lords that they would never trade, what they did want was food, wool clothing and dragonglass, why the wildlings wanted obsidian he would never know but there was enough of the material in the lands of the hill clans and they could buy it cheep in dragonstone. And while the trade was done in barter, since the wildlings had no currency, the ivory, amber, furs and animals they were receiving were extremely profitable goods.
If only he could get some of the giants that had settled there to move south, that was almost enough to convince Ned to go north of the wall, regardless of any greenseer. If he could convince a few giants, together with their mammoths, to settle south of the wall and put them to work in some of his more difficult projects, it would be a major boon to the north as a whole.
With all that trade, the amount of coin flowing through the north was higher than ever, with more coin and more food the smallfolk were feeling safer in having larger families, these days it wasn't difficult to walk through winter town and see a family with five or six children, all of them looking healthy and dressed in good quality clothes.
He felt a nudge on his leg and looked to his side to see Ashara smirking at him, knowing exactly how his mind had been wandering. She discreetly pointed towards the door and Ned looked over to see lords Umber and Karstark walking inside the great hall, and Ned prepared himself to talk to two of his most important bannermen.
Both men approached the table and bowed.
"Lord Stark, Lady Stark." The men said.
Ned looked at his bannermen. Jon Umber was a tall man, almost as tall as Walder, Old Nan's great-grandson, although he was quite a bit larger than the gentle giant of the stables; huge, muscled arms and fists the size of hams, the Umber lord was quite intimidating for those who didn't knew him, but everyone who had ever met the man, quickly learned of his boisterous disposition and his ability to out drink anyone.
Rickard Karstark, on the other hand, reminded Ned a lot of his own father. Gaunt, tall and with the stoic face of all Starks, thick beard and long hair mostly grey, but with a few strands of brown, the man was a living testimony of the fact that the Starks and Karstarks were kin.
"My Lords, please, join us." Ashara said, as was the duty of a good lady.
While the men joined them on the raised table, Ned looked at his wife and gave her a smile. Ashara was fierce, headstrong and had a massive temper, but she also had all the grace of a queen and knew exactly when to employ it, that was just one of the many reasons why he loved her.
"We march today my lords, are your men ready?" Ned asked the now seated lords.
"Aye Lord Stark, my men are ready." Rickard responded.
"My men are ready Ned; we will show those squids why they shouldn't attack the north." Lord Umber responded.
Ned ignored the censoring look lord Karstark was giving lord Umber and raised his cup towards Jon in a silent salute, chuckling a little to himself. He liked the Umber Lord, a man of his loyalty, honesty and that held such little interest in politics was hard to find.
And there was some true to lord umber's words, the men were raring to fight against the ironborn. While most of the war was being fought in the south, with the attacks in Lannisport and Seagard and the various raids in the reach, there were still some attacks in the north, the improved trade in the western coast caused the reavers to also look north for plunder, and while most of their attacks were repelled, a few were still able to cause some damage to town in the western coast. Ned was certain there were a few men going south that had their homes destroyed and their mothers, wives, sister and daughters taken as salt wives by the ironborn. Ned would need to be careful with that, a desire for vengeance could just as well hinder as it could help in the battles to come.
Ned made small talk with the lords, talking about how they would be marching to Seagard instead of cape kraken. He had thought of using the north's own fleet to transport his troops, but almost immediately disregarded that idea, the fleet wasn't big enough to transport the men in a single group, so they would need multiple trips, combine that with the last bit of news that he had from the south, saying that the ironborn still had some naval power, despite their loses against the Lannisters, the risk was great so Ned preferred to move with the safe option, moving his men by land until they could be transported by the royal fleet.
Many other lords joined them while they talked, lord Mormont, lord Manderly and his good friend lord Dustin, were just some of those. They talked about where they would attack, but it was light conversation, they couldn't talk in many details before seeing the battlefield.
Ned was the last to leave the hall, he talked with every single one of the lords gathered there as was expected of him, after the last lord left the hall; Ned also left, he walked the hallways of Winterfell alone with his thoughts, for him, fighting this war was going to be even more difficult than the last one, the last war he was fighting to avenge his family, in this one he would be leaving his family behind.
When Ned opened the door to his room, it became immediately clear why Ashara had left the great hall before him. She was there waiting for him, their children with her, Brandon, the twins and Edwyle in her arms.
Every time Ned looked at his firstborn, it was almost like looking in a mirror, the boy of five looked exactly like Ned did at his age, except for the eyes, he had his mother's violet eyes. If Brandon was a copy of Ned, Sansa was a copy of Ashara, with the same raven black hair and violet eyes, hearth shaped face and quite tall for her four name days, showing that she would be just as tall as her mother. Arya surprisingly looked quite different from her twin sister, apart from the black hair, the girl was all Stark, with grey eyes and a long face, the girl looked like a black haired version of her aunt Lyanna. Edwyle at two was still too young to have defined features, but he had his mother's eyes and Ned's hair.
Ned walked inside the room, giving a nod to Old Nan outside and closing the door behind him, he kissed his wife, gave little Edwyle a kiss on his head and then went on his knees, opening his arms for his children and almost immediately receiving their impact hugs. Ned enjoyed the feeling of being hug by his children, breaking the hug after a minute, his eyes turned towards his first born as he said.
"Bran, remember what i told you yesterday, once i leave you are the Stark in Winterfell, listen to your mother and maester Luwin, they will not steer you wrong."
"Yes papa." His son responded.
"And always remember, I love you and i am proud of you." Ned said to his son, hugging him again, breaking the hug he turned towards the twins.
"Girls, don't give your mother too much trouble, don't skip your lessons and don't go running in the crypts again." He said, receiving a nod from his daughters.
"I love you both." He said hugging the girls.
Breaking the hug he rose to his feet, took Edwyle from Ashara's hands and said to him.
"Papa will be gone for a while, but i will be back soon, alright, little one. I love you." He said kissing his youngest in the head again.
He returned the little one to Ashara and she walked towards the door, the other children going with her, opening the door, Ashara gave Edwyle to Old Nan and once the children left the room she closed the door again, she walked back towards him and once she reached him their lips touched in a deep, passionate kiss. Breaking the kiss, Ashara looked him in the eyes and said.
"You better keep that promise you just made and return to us safe, or else i'm going somehow bring you back to life just so i can kill you again."
Ned chuckled, gave her another kiss and then responded.
"I will have the most beautiful woman in the world waiting for me, nothing can stop me from returning to you love."
Ashara also chuckled. The two of them stayed talking for a few more minutes, but their time soon became short and Ashara started to help him into his traveling armor, once he was dressed he gave her another kiss and together, hand in hand, they walked towards the courtyard were his lords were waiting for him. In the courtyard Ned gave his wife one final kiss, mounted his horse and then left his home, riding towards another war.
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Ned's army was close to the gates Seagard, the seat of house Mallister. Their march through the north was quick, slowing down a little once they reached the neck, but being guided by the native crannogmen they were able to move faster and safer than any other army that size would be able to, after that came the annoyance of passing through The Twins and dealing with Walder Frey, the man was even more ill-tempered than the last time Ned had seen him, after leaving The Twins they were able to move quickly again and reached Seagard in a few days.
They had recently received their orders for the invasion, they would attack first Blacktyde, once the island was subdued they would then sail south to Orkmont, were they probably would be slowed down by a lengthy siege, the seat of house Orkwood was one of the oldest and most well defended castles in westeros, it had served as capital of the Iron Islands for two different houses, Greyiron and Hoare; the castle would be one tough nut to crack, but he was confident in his men being able to do it. After conquering Orkmont, they were instructed to join the royal army, who by that point should be starting to lay siege to Pyke.
During their march south, the royal fleet under the command of Lord Stannis Baratheon, and the Redwyne fleet under the command of Lord Paxter Redwyne, smashed the iron fleet near the Straits of Fair Isle. The ironborn lost almost all of their naval power in that single battle, and that cleared the way for an invasion of the islands, contingents of the Lannister army had already landed in Harlaw and were already sieging Ten Towers, the seat of house Harlaw.
The royal fleet would arrive in two days to transport them to Blacktyde; Ned was hoping for more information about the island before he sailed there.
While the army raised camp, Ned and a few of his lords continued in their horses towards the castle; he could see the guards on the walls of Seagard move towards the gatehouse, they had seen the banners long ago and likely already had orders from lord Mallister to open the gates. When Ned and his companions reached the gates, they were already open, men guarded both sides of the gate as Ned rode his horse inside the walls and into the courtyard of Seagard.
Awaiting for him in the courtyard was Lord Jason Mallister; the man looked a little different than the last time Ned had seen him, he was still clean-shaven, still tall and lean, but his brown hair was now a little longer, his blue-grey eyes showed a little more of his age. Ned hoped the man hadn't changed in personality, he quite liked Jason Mallister the last time they met, the man was honorable and courteous. Ned didn't pray to the seven, but he had a lot of respect for knights that took their vows seriously, and Jason Mallister was one of those few knights.
Dismounting from his horse, Ned walked forward and extended his hand once he was in front of his host.
"Lord Mallister, it is an honor to see you again; congratulations on your recent victory." Ned said.
And it was a good victory, lord Mallister managed to defend his castle from the assault led by Rodrik Greyjoy, killing the heir to the iron islands in the battle beneath his walls and driving the ironborn back into the Sunset Sea.
Lord Mallister walked forward, clasped arms with Ned and then responded.
"Lord Stark, welcome to Seagard, thank you for your kind words. Please, share bread and salt with me before we talk more."
A servant walked forward holding a tray; Ned shared bread and salt with his host, placing himself under guest right and waited for lord Mallister to greet his companions. As he waited Ned looked around the courtyard, the men of Seagard still showed signs of the battle they fought, Jason's left arm was a little stiffer than normal, the long sleeves of his tunic didn't show anything, but Ned was willing to bet the man was recovering from a cut. Injuries in the guards were a lot easier to see, many of them showed cuts and bruises in arms, legs and even chests.
When he completed his greetings; lord Mallister turned towards Ned and asked.
"Lord Stark, i humbly ask that you and your lords join me in my war chamber, we have news about the goings on the iron islands, news that i hope you will find enlightening."
Ned agreed, the northern lords also agreed, so they all moved through the halls of Seagard, being guided by lord Mallister himself; without the customary political play that was the long walk through the halls to show the wealth and power of the host, they quickly reached the war chamber, walking inside the room Ned saw that there were already a few people there, most of them were landed knights, sworn to house Mallister, but one of them Ned was happy to see, lord Tytos Blackwood, the Blackwood lord was honorable in the few dealings Ned ever had with him; he was also a good warrior, someone Ned would be happy to have fighting by his side.
"Lord Blackwood, it is good to see you again. I don't believe the king called for your banners, will you be fighting with us?" Ned asked, pulling a chair and seating on the long table inside the room.
"Lord Stark, always an honor. As for fighting, yes the king didn't call for my banners, but those damned squids attacked my wife's home, they will pay for it." Tytos responded.
Ned had forgotten that lord Blackwood's wife was the aunt of lord Mallister, but he could certainly understand the man and his desire for vengeance; Dorne was on the other side of westeros and if anyone attacked Starfall, Ned would still gather every single man in the north and wage war alongside the Daynes, it was what honor demanded.
"It will be an honor to fight alongside you again Tytos." Ned responded the man, nodding his head and raising the goblet of wine in front of him towards the Blackwood lord, receiving a nod in return.
"Let us talk war, my lords. But first, Lord Stark, this arrived this morning for you." Jason said, he signaled for a servant that was waiting close to the wall of the room, the servant walked forward and placed a letter in front of Ned, he could see the letter bore the seal of the master of whisperers.
"Lord Varys appears to be well aware of your movements, Lord Stark." Jason said.
"As is expected of the master of whisperers, Lord Mallister; i believe this letter holds more information about the goings on the iron islands, we might need another meeting later to account for the new information. But for now, let us plan with what we know." Ned responded, not rising to the obvious bait that was the comment about Varys knowing his movements. He knew for a fact that the letter would have more information on the iron islands, but it was also possible for the letter to contain more... sensitive information.
"As you said, Lord Stark. Both myself and Lord Blackwood were instructed to merge our troops with yours, as of this moment we are under your command." Jason said.
"How many men do you have, my lords?" Ned asked.
"2,000 my lord." Jason responded.
"3,000 my lord." Tytos responded.
Ned took a moment to think, that brought his numbers to 13,000 men, which was almost as large as the amount of men the entirety of the iron islands could raise, any defense he found would be hopelessly outnumbered, maybe he would be able to solve his part of the siege without bloodshed.
"We were ordered to capture Blacktyde, then march on and siege Orkmont, after that we are to converge with the royal army, who by that point should be already sieging Pyke. Blacktyde should be easy to capture, but we all know that Orkmont will be a more difficult battle. Any suggestions are welcomed." Ned said, all around the table every man adopted a pensive face, until Lord Umber, one of the lords that accompanied Ned there, said.
"Why don't we just storm the castle, we are bound to outnumber them at least three to one."
"Unless we outnumber the defenders five to one, that is not something i am willing to do, Lord Umber. The last man to successfully storm Orkmont was Theon Stark and that was almost four thousand years ago." Ned responded the Umber lord.
"A siege then, how long do you think it is going to last, Lord Stark?" Tytos asked.
"Between six and eight moons, Lord Blackwood. We might not know the number of defenders at this moment, but we do know that the castle is poorly supplied, they will not hold for long." Ned responded.
They continued to talk for another hour, many more details about the invasion were discussed, the most difficult part was discussing what to do with any rescued women, the history books that they all were educated with always said that in the old days many of the women taken as salt wives by the ironborn found difficulties once returned to their families. Other topics were a lot easier, such as the chain of command and the rights to plunder, although, Ned found particularly distasteful the comment from Lord Bolton about how it was a shame that their religion didn't allow for the taking of salt wives, so the ironborn could taste of their own poison. And judging by the faces of most of the lords around the table, Ned wasn't the only one.
By the end of the hour they had discussed all they could with the information they had available, so lord Mallister instructed a few of his servants to show the northern lords to their guest rooms, Ned was guided to his room by a young woman with red hair, blue eyes and high cheekbones that blushed every time she looked at him. Ned resisted the urge to groan in embarrassment, he had been talked into bringing another woman into their bedroom by Ashara just last year, and it already appeared that he was gaining an ill reputation this far away from his home.
Arriving at the room and dismissing the still blushing woman, Ned walked into the room, closed the door, sat on a chair and finally opened the letter.
Lord Stark
This letter should reach you when you arrive at Seagard.
I was instructed by our Lord Hand to give you information about the enemies of the crown, you will be happy to know that Blacktyde is almost abandoned; only 50 men stay as a guard to the young lord Baelor Blacktyde, the rest of the men died in the battle near fair isle, including lord Baelor's father.
In Orkmont you will find more resistance; the castle currently holds a force of 4,000 men.
Our Queen asks you to voice your disagreement with the king's vengeance against Balon Greyjoy, she also ask that the two remaining Greyjoy children be taken as wards of the crown.
Varys
Master of Whisperers
Ned read the letter another time just to get a better understanding of it, the comments about 'our queen' instead of queen Cersei made it quite obvious to know who he was talking about. Why queen Rhaella wanted the Greyjoy children as wards of Robert he would never know, her desire to spare Balon Greyjoy, on the other hand, was quite easy to understand. The lord of Pyke would never submit, even if he bended the knee he would still plot against Robert and would certainly try to start another war in the future; and that would make a perfect situation for the Targaryens to invade.
Ned wished Ashara was there to advise him, her understanding of politics was a lot better than his. But in the end, he realized it was just a longing to be with his wife again, his orders were clear and he would do what was asked of him.
