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The Crippled Wolf-Stark SI: Ch.31
🕑 Added 2025-02-26 11:27:22 +0000 UTCChapter 31
Back at the Wall Benjen Stark found himself in the solar of one Jeor Mormont as the Lord Commander of the Night’s watch stared down at the obsidian dagger that had been given to him by his First Ranger.
“Obsidian,” the Lord Commander asked as Benjen Stark nodded, taking a gulp of the warm wine served to him by the man’s steward.
“Yes, and this is one of the three things that can truly kill the dead,” and the old Bear narrowed his eyes.
“And who told you this tale,” and the man hesitated before he answered.
“Someone I trust, someone who told the same tale and gave the exact gift to the Free Folk,” and the old bear’s eyes widened.
“Who?” and then he shook his head.
“I cannot say their name, but they have....”
0000
CREGAN STARK
The city above him rejoiced as the news of the Queen’s pregnancy took the realm by surprise, and after half a decade of no such news, it was a surprise to have the Queen’s womb become heavy with a child once more.
The commoners thought it to be a God’s blessing after the demise of Prince Joffrey, though Cregan knew the truth to be different. He knew that this was nothing but a ruse from the Queen to placate the King.
Cregan still wondered how he would deal with the Queen and her brother, but in the end, he had put it all behind him as he focused his attention on his first target. Already, his father’s actions and proclamations had made Little Finger nervous, and so he had spent the last four nights awake mapping out his extensive operation.
And now, today, he would fall. The skies were still dark, and the city above him was still slumbering, as much as a city as grand and large as Kingslanding could. Cregan walked through the tunnels in the darkness until he came upon a familiar man standing there with a lamp.
The fat man, with a large mustache and beard, looked him up and down as he snickered.
“I thought you had no plans of returning to the city,” asked his oldest friend in the city, Thoros of Myr, as Cregan pulled down his hood.
“Believe me, I truly had no plans, but it seems like this city is not quite done with me just yet,” Cregan voiced out as the man smiled.
“Still, I was rather surprised to see your message again. I thought you would have no need of little old me with all those Northern guards here to do your bidding,” and he had been a bit hesitant to call after him, for he did have little need of him.
But in the end, he still called out for him, for he did not wish to waste such a massive opportunity, one that could help him replenish his reserves of gold. After all, in this game, one could never really have enough gold.
The men from the North, while loyal and discreet, were not his men. No, they were his father’s men, and while Cregan did trust them, he also knew that they would find some of the things he intended to do rather distasteful.
And so, he had a need for Thoros, and the man had proven himself to be both reliable and discreet enough to handle matters.
“How interested would you be in robbing our old friend once again?” Cregan asked as Thoros’s eyes glistened in the light of the fire, and he smirked.
“Again?” he questioned, a bit cautiously, as Cregan shrugged.
“Let’s just say that all his crimes are about to catch up with him, and our little mockingbird is about to be put into a cage, one from which he will never fly out,” Cregan offered as Thoros’s eyes widened.
“I doubt he would have any need of all his gold after tomorrow,” and the man was quick enough to connect the dots.
“So, you are finally taking him out for good,” and Cregan raised a brow.
“The Crown is the one taking him down. I am merely the one who pointed out his little schemes and games,” and the man nodded.
“Still, I have been in the city for weeks, yet I have not even heard a whisper of such a thing,” and that was the entire point here, to not involve the Gold Cloaks at all.
“My father’s men will be raiding his establishments soon enough to confiscate all his gold and assets,” Cregan began as Thord listened aptly.
“I have told them of all of his little hideouts except the one in the Flea bottom,” and Little Finger invested most of the Gold that he stole, but the man still kept a rather large amount of it stored in different locations around the city.
And Cregan had given his father the location of all these places, except for one which he planned to rob himself using Thoros.
“We can rob that one, and unlike previous times, we will be stealing the entire fortune stored there,” and the Priest smirked at his words.
“That is very tempting indeed,” he asked, and Cregan raised a brow as he looked into his game.
“So, do you want to obtain some more gold?” Cregan asked as Thoros looked into his eyes.
“When have you ever known me to turn down a pile of gold?” They both chuckled as Cregan smiled.
“So, here is the map. A tunnel opens up just a few streets away from it. You can move it all there; the rest, as always, you will leave to me,” and he passed him the map as Thoros pocketed it.
“I will see it done,” and Cregan smiled in relief.
“We will divide it just like before. I will take one half, and you shall have the other. Any men you hire, you will pay yourself,” Cregan confirmed, and the man nodded.
“Aye. Aye,” and then he stared at his face as Cregan gave the final nod and made to leave.
“I knew you would be back,” Thoros added, and Cregan halted as he looked up in surprise.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I knew you would come back to the city,” and Cregan was taken aback by those words.
“And why is that?” he asked.
“Because I have known you for around half a decade, Stark,” he added as he picked up his lamp off the ground.
“You still remember what you named all this when we first met?” he suddenly asked, and Cregan frowned, remembering their conversation from years ago.
“A game,” he supplied the answer himself as Cregan nodded.
“Yes, I did call it that,” he agreed, and Thros nodded.
“And yet you thrive in it, despite what you may say,” he added, stopping him from cutting in as he placed a hand on his shoulder.
“This your calling, Stark. This game of yours is your burden, and it seems like you are finally beginning to come to terms with it....”
0000
EDDARD STARK
The news of Queen’s pregnancy came as a surprise to many, including himself and a part of him wondered if it was true or a ruse by the Queen to pacify his suspicions.
Though they were no longer suspicions, were they?
He had visited the shop of the smith that had been pointed out to him by the Master of Coin, both to see for himself what Jon had, and the truth had been evident. The apprentice was Robert’s bastard.
And the book proved it as well, Lineages and Histories. And though he knew that there was no way of proving the Queen’s infidelity with absolute certainty, he could say with near certainty that the Queen’s children were not Robert’s.
And the mere thought of it made his blood turn as he felt himself an accomplice in this betrayal of his friend for keeping this secret from him.
He had seen how happy Robert had been when the Queen had told him of her pregnancy, of how wide his smile had been, how brightly his eyes had been lit at the prospect of another child.
And the children? Tommen and Myrcella. He had dined with them many times now and found them to be sweet and innocent. The boy reminded him much of Bran; the girl, though, was a mix of Arya and Sansa and clearly infatuated with Cregan.
He knew what their fates would be if Robert was to ever learn of the Queen’s actions, and just thinking about that had made him dream of that dreaded day of the sack of Kingslanding, of crushed babes covered in Red Cloaks.
Could he really condemn them to such a fate? Could he really plunge the Seven Kingdoms into another war?
Or should he bury this truth, as he had done so years ago, claiming her sister’s child to be her own? Even then, he had done so to prevent a war, to save the life of a babe? Was this any different than that time?
The Seven Kingdoms were at peace, and he was the Hand. Loathed as he was to be away from his home and family, he was in a position to keep that peace, to save not just three but thousands of lives.
All at the cost of a single lie.
The choice was not an easy one. And it was why he had often stopped himself from confronting the Queen by himself, for then he would have no choice but to face the reality. And Eddard did not think himself ready for it.
And so, in these troubling times, it was a blessing that he had another matter of grave importance to occupy his mind, one that did not demand such careful thinking.
And so, he found himself in the King’s chambers before even the Sun had come up.
“Seven Hells! What matter is so important that you had to wake me up at this ungodly hour,” Robert lamented, his eyes still laced with sleep and weariness as he loosely closed his nightgown.
“I assure you I would not have done so if it was not urgent,” Eddard began as he quietly eyed the whores, and the Kingsguard remembering Cregan’s warning before he uttered it.
“This better be good, Stark, or I promise you I will show you myself how I caved in Rhaegar’s chest!” Robert thundered as he plopped down on a chair beside the fireplace to soak in the warmth.
“I need to talk to you alone,” he began, and Robert raised a brow.
“We are alone, you damned man...” and as Eddard pointed towards the whores in his bed.
“They are asleep, just as one should be at this hour. And so, say what you will, or I will deal with it later... " As he saw that his friend was not going to budge, Eddard walked forward and spoke the ominous words.
“I have come to speak to you of treason,” and the words wiped away Robert’s sleep in an instant. In a blink, his eyes were open in full, and Robert stared at his face intensely.
“Speak those words again so that I can be certain that you just uttered the word ‘treason’ in the presence of a King...”
“You are not mistaken. I do speak of treason,” Eddard added as Robert’s lips thinned.
“Is this the one who hired those bandits who took my son from me,” Eddard’s lips thinned as he looked Robert in the eye and began slowly.
“Yes, but his treason goes far beyond i...”
“WHO!” and Robert was on his feet in an instant as his voice thundered across the room, waking up the whores on his bed.
“Just listen to me...” he tried to placate his friend.
“Tell me the name, Ned! Tell it to me right now! I order you as your KING!”
“Petyr Baelish,” he finally uttered the name as the room descended into silence as Robert’s face flushed in rage.
“That fucking weasel! I will skin him! I should have known....” and as Robert made to stand up, Eddard confronted him.
“But the man’s treason goes far beyond that, he has been stealing from the Crown for years to line his own pocket and has paid off half the gold cloaks in the city,” he quickly.
“SO, BE IT! I WILL KILL HIM WITH MY OWN HANDS!”
“My men are ready. Give me your blessing, and I will have him brought to you rig.....”
“DO IT!” Robert did not let him finish as he looked him in the eye.
“Do it! Bring him to me!”
0000
Pety Baelish sat in his room, tired and frustrated after a listless night filled with nothing but tossing and turning, as he grew more and more anxious with every passing day about the actions of the new Hand.
He had thought that being a northerner, Eddard Stark would be a simple man, easy enough to fool. But the Warden of the North was proving himself to be quite an enigma as he skitted around all his plans and plots while giving away nothing about his intentions.
The man was plotting something. His own spies told him of how the Queen and her brother grew nervous to see him visiting Tobho Mott’s shop and asking for the very tome that had been asked for by the late Lord Jon Arryn, and in a way, it should have eased him of his worries for the Houses of Stark and Lannister were nearing a possible confrontation.
And confrontation always resulted in chaos, and chaos was a ladder.
Yet he did not sleep easier at night. For the past five days, he had felt as if he was under a grave threat, that an ever-present eye hung over him, following him and watching his every move.
And so, he decided to make a move to safeguard himself, and wrote off a little message and gave it to one of his most trusted men.
“Have this sent to the Eyrie,” he said, and the man nodded as he left his room as the Sun began to dawn, and as he stood up to prepare himself for a new day, he was suddenly disturbed by a loud commotion coming from the brothel below him.
He heard screams and wails as his eyes furrowed with rage at the audacity of one to stir up trouble at one of his establishments.
And as he walked down the stairs, he saw three dozen men standing there waiting for him, as his son all sat scared in one corner of the room, and his heart dropped as he saw their cloaks and armor, all decorated with the sigil of a direwolf.
“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS! I AM THE MASTER OF COIN, AND THIS IS....” but the men did not let him finish as the captain stepped forward, as half the men surrounded him.
“Lord Baelish, you are under arrest...”
0000
And as word of Petyr Baelish’s treason travelled across the continent and beyond, it reached the Halls of Winterfell as well, where Catelyn Stark gasped as she read about the treachery of the boy who had grown up beside her.
Yet her troubles would only be compounded by the missive that came from her uncle in the Vale, and after some contemplation, she would summon both her eldest and the steward them of her decision.
“I am afraid I must ride to the Eyrie,” she said as her eldest frowned.
“Why? What happened?” he asked. He had grown up so much in his father's absence, and it pained her to burden him anymore, but she had no choice.
“It is my sister, Lysa. She has just tried to kill herself....”
0000
Comments
FallenMetalGod
Thank you. It looks like the mockingbird has been caught. I wonder how much wealth Cregan and Thoros will gain from the heist. Let's see how things will fall apart because of Lysa. Great job, as always, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
Zai
Lysa is gonna take her hostage for Baelish I can see it
f_2004_nashef
Thx for the chapter
Radiant Tiefling
Thank you for the chapter.
Almaz Zakytkazy
Thanks for the chapter!Little wolf should kill him immediately.
