From Westeros to Essos : The Crusader King

It was a mistake, one that as much as it pains Eddard Stark to admit, was his own doing. Two moons ago, his dear wife, his Cat had changed, and not for the better.

Ever since he brought Jon here and had him and Robb be raised as brothers, Cat was there for both of them, raising Jon like he was her flesh and blood. But one day, when he was out of the castle, Cat changed. At first, it wasn't noticeable, but after a week, Robb told him that their baby sister, Sansa wasn't talking with Jon at all, and more than once, he heard her answering with "It is not ladylike to talk with someone born on the wrong side of the sheets", something that broke his heart.

Was it her pregnancy? Or by the Old Gods, was this how his wife had always been?

Truth be told, he, Howland and Willam had played their part by making a huge lie in which Jon Snow was the son of his older brother, Brandon Stark, and the woman his brother loved, Ashara Dayne. Mayhaps if he hadn't done that, mayhaps if he told his wife that Jon was his son, then this situation wouldn't happened.

If that wasn't bad enough, today was the day, Willam and his wife, Barbrey Dustin, née Ryswell came to visit Winterfell and more importantly so that Ned could his friend's newborn son.

The road to Winterfell was rough and the terrain dreary but as someone born and raised in such a place, Willam didn't mind, he actually quite liked the peacefulness of the empty spaces of the north compared to the hot sun of the south anything colder was an improvement.

 It had been less than eight moons since his life had changed, since he became a father, and from what his lovely wife told everyone, an excellent husband, one that as strange as it might sound, she wished to have married sooner. While his wife still held some grudge against the Starks, it was by far to the point of calling a feud, no it was more along the lines of her not liking Eddard Stark because of his brother, however, Ned was and will always be his friend. And ever since his son Harrold was born, he wanted Ned to see him.

 So, to Winterfell it was, and truth be told he'd been surprised when Roose Bolton had asked, not ordered, his wife to take, Domeric Bolton and teach him how to be a good lord, something that his wife was more than happy to do. Mostly, because she didn't want the nephew to become like his father, not that it was possible. Domeric was anything but Roose. The boy was sweet, happy to help, good with the smallfolk, and more than once had Willam found the boy being humble rather than acting like your usual spoiled little lordling you see South of the Neck.

 "What a strange world we live in, don't you think so, Kors?" he said aloud to the bemusement of the guard nearest him.

"Aye, m'lord. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. Thought considering that Lord Bolton and Lady Dustin are goodbrothers, that does make sense, m'lord."

Willam just smiled at his guard. He was right and while Roose was anything but a friendly goodbrother to him, he couldn't fault the man.

As they crested a hill the castle came into view, large and grey but very impressive, the walls and towers looked ancient but sturdy, he looked on top of the walls and saw some of the men waiting anxiously for his family to walk in the castle. It warmed his heart to see that Ned had listened to the advice he and Howland had given about increasing the guards and starting to work on repairing Wintertown, the north was in dire need of people, and what better way than rebuilding a town that only used in the winter?

When they entered the castle, he saw what must have been every single resident awaiting him and his wife, something that Willam knew was Ned's southern wife's idea.

"Welcome to Winterfell, my lord, my lady."

For some reason, Ned looked as uncomfortable as could be, something that he and Ned would have to talk about later today, but until then, Willam smiled at his friend.

"Ned, it's good to see you, my friend." As he and Ned shared a hug, Willam swore he heard Barbrey snore at their display of brotherly affection.

The feast that night was just what he expected. Everyone shared mead and wine, talking and enjoying themselves, and for that, Willam was thankful that the northern feasts were so different than those in the south. While he and Ned talked most of the day about various subjects, surprisingly though it wasn't Ned's wife's boastful self or her mummers of a story about her boy beating anyone in the yard that caused him to look around the room, not exactly wanting to hear any more lies coming from a fish and that's when he saw it. The little boy of five namedays Old that he, Howland, and Ned found all those years ago sat there among what appeared to be servants and guards, he was laughing at something one of them was saying when he looked to the high table, as soon as he did, his face changed and he stopped smiling almost as if… looking closely at what the little boy was looking, Willam realized that he was looking at the bloody fish of a wife of his friend.

Since this was not the place nor the time to talk about, he decided to seek the boy after the feast, and to his surprise, he found the boy trying to swing a wooden sword in the yard.

"Well, lad, your form is terrible, even for a five namedays old boy."

In an instant, the boy dropped the sword and turned around, fear written on his face. he turned to me "My lord... I..."

Not being one to tease or scare a boy, Willam smiled trying to put the boy at ease "Lord Willam Dustin, lad."

 The boy looked confused as he heard his name, making Willem once again wonder just what in the name of the Old Gods had that trout tough the boy.

"While I'm The Bold or The Sword of the Morning, would you like me to give you some pointers? Something for a beginner mayhaps?"

 "Yes Ser, I mean my Lord".

Two hours, that how long Willem spent teaching the young boy how to wield a sword and how to use it, and while that would not make the lad a swordsman, it was a begging, one that hopefully would give the boy a purpose.

"After these two hours, I forgot to ask you what's your name lad?"

"Jon, Jon Snow my Lord."

"Well met, young man, and if you keep it up, you'll be an excellent swordsman one day, of that I'm more than sure."

The smile he gave him made Willem feel that this was the least he could do for her son. While neither he nor Ned would want to see the boy suffer just to get on that pointless throne, if one day would come and the boy would want his rightful throne, House Dustin would stand with him.

After escorting the lad back into the castle, Willem was just about to walk to the room Ned had for him and his family only to see, Ned's wife rushing towards the boy and grabbing him by the shoulders violently. For a moment, Willem was about to grab his sword, but then he remembered where he was, so despite all of his instincts telling him to save the boy, he stood there and listened to the fish trying to scare the wolf.

"Bastard, what were you doing with Lord Dustin, a bastard like you shouldn't be near their betters, I'll not have shame brought upon my family by the likes of you!"

Jon was almost in tears, and even from where he stood, Willem could hear the muffled sniffers of the lad.

"You are a stain on my husband's honor, a reminder of his betrayal. You have no right to call yourself a Stark, you are nothing but a bastard!"

She spat out those words with venom, making Jon flinch as she raised her hand and struck the boy's face with a hard slap, making him cry out loud. As he cried Jon didn't want anything more than to escape from this place, but he did not dare to fight back. He knew that his father loved him, but he also knew that he had to endure his father's wife's hatred. He lowered his head and tried to hold back his tears, feeling helpless and alone.

Seeing that, Catelyn sneered and left the boy crying on the castle floor, not caring about the blood that dripped from his lip. As she walked away with a smug expression, feeling satisfied that she had put the bastard in his place, the fish did not notice the almost murderous glare she got from Lord Dustin.

When she disappeared, Willam charged right at Ned's solar, only to find his friend looking tired. While he was surprised to see his friend at his hour rushing into his solar, Ned tried his best to put up a smile.

"Willem, what happened?" Despite his best efforts to hide his anger, Ned saw it, he saw the rage in his friend's eyes.

"For fuck's sake, Ned. Do you have any idea what your wife had done just now?"

Ned blinked in surprise, but a small part of him feared the worst. If Cat had done what he fears she had done and Willem saw it… by the Old Gods, that woman would be the death of him.

"She lashed out at him?"

"Worst Ned. She hit the lad, a five namedays old boy like he was some bloody abomination!"

He knew that Cat hated Jon, but he never thought she would resort to violence. He loved his wife, but he loved Jon too. He knew he had wronged Cat by bringing Jon home, but he had no choice. He had made a promise to his sister, and he would keep it, no matter the cost.

"Willem, I'm sorry. I didn't know she would do that. I'll talk to her, I'll make her stop." Ned said, trying to calm his friend before either one of them did or said something that they would regret.

And to some extent, it worked as Willem shook his head, but both of them knew that the fish would not stop.

 "Ned, you know as well as I do that she won't stop. She hates the boy, she hates you for having him. She'll never accept him as her son, or as a Stark. She'll make his life miserable, and yours too."

Ned sighed, knowing that Willem was right. Cat had never forgiven him for Jon's existence, and despite having the boy for almost six years now, and only recently did she start acting like this, Ned knew that she had made it clear that she wanted Jon gone, or dead. Only the new and old Gods know what happened to the woman who loved Jon like a son.

"Willem, what do you want me to do? He's her son, I can't just abandon him." Ned said, feeling torn.

Willem looked at him with a serious expression and then said what he had been thinking for a long time.

"Ned, let me take him. Let me raise him as a ward, as a brother to my own son, and a friend to my nephew. Let him have a normal life, one that no Southern lady would destroy. Let him grow up in Barrowton, where he'll be loved and respected. Let him learn from me how to be a good lord and a good man. Let him be happy, Ned."

Another dead end. It has been more than a moon since Konrad had been kidnapped by slavers and no matter how much he and Andar killed, they weren't any closer to where the boy was or if he still lives.

Just now, Tyrek and a small group of twenty men that he managed to buy the services of, killed another crew of slavers hoping to find anything about the boy he swore to protect.

Yet, while finding Konrad was their priority, Tyrek had some doubts about those fire worshipers. More than once they approached Andar, trying to convert him and if that wasn't bad enough, a woman, one that Tyrek managed to find was named Melisandre mentioned to Andar that he should forget about the abomination and embrace the true lord.

If not for how desperate they were to find Konrad, no gods would have stopped Tyrek from killing that woman.

But mayhaps that was for the best as one day, a few days after that incident, Andar stumbled upon some information about this particular slaver crew that got a rare merchandise one that would have made even the Valyrians of old salivate for getting their hands on him. To his surprise, while the slavers had no idea where the young lord was, they did mention that they lost two ships a week ago and with them a lot of the rarer slaves, something that made Tyrek happy to hear. If by some divine miracle, Konrad was still alive, he and Andar would find him, even if that meant going through the seven hells and back.

"Andar, we are leaving this city. "

Andar looked back at him almost as if he wished the blonde man had found his nephew.

"Have you…"

"No lad, I hadn't, but the slaver gave me a clue. We are going to the coastline."

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