The Crippled Wolf: Stark SI (GOT)

Chapter 24

EDDARD STARK

It was as if the fates were plotting against them. Days had passed since Cregan had been found, but Eddard had not been able to make time to meet his son in all that time.

And now, days after Prince Joffrey's death, the castle was beginning to return to normal as the Royal retinue began preparing for their departure.

Reluctant as he was, the trail for the one who had hired the bandits had gone cold, and the man had vanished into thin air. And so, Robert had acquiesced to the demands of his Queen, and soon enough, the Royal family was set to return back to the capital where the Prince Joffrey would be laid to rest.

Eddard would have to ride with them as the King's Hand. The question, though, was who in his family would accompany him on this journey. Catelyn, Sansa, and even Arya had all asked to join him, and yet he was reluctant to accept their terms, especially after the missive he and Catelyn had received late into the night.

"Take none of them," Cregan answered, much to his surprise. It did not sit well with him to see his child in such a state. Though the Maester had assured him that Cregan was on his way to making a full recovery, the boy had still thinned much because of this whole ordeal and still had bandages wrapped around his wounds.

"What?" and his son nodded as he lay there in his bed.

"Yes, you and I should be enough, though I would recommend that you take a significant retinue with you, perhaps two hundred men, or even more than that," Cregan suggested.

"That is too much," Eddard answered. It would not be polite nor proper to have so many men in his retinue. Especially since he would have to pay them through the Crown's coffers.

"It is not. The capital is vast and filled with men whose loyalties are bought by one party or another. If you are to be the hand, you must have men loyal to you around you. To guard you, to do your bidding and for so many other tasks," and there was wisdom in those words.

"But the King..."

"King Robert is your friend. He would understand. We can use the recent attack as a reason for such a large retinue. I doubt the King would deny you then," and Eddard put this in the back of his mind before he added.

"And what of Sansa and your mother? You want me to leave them here as well," he asked and Cregan.

"Categorically," Cregan answered as he looked into his eyes.

"Sansa and Mother do not understand the dangers that await us in the capital. Their presence there would put us all into jeopardy," Cregan added softly before he added.

"At least for some time, until you have settled there," and Eddard shook his head, for he knew his lady wife would never agree to this.

"Your mother will not agree to his," he added, especially after the missive that they had received last night.

"You have to make her agree. Because if she goes, then Sansa goes, and having so many people with us in the capital will be a liability, especially in the initial time," Cregan argued, and Eddard thought whether he should tell him about the secret message and then Benjen's words came to his mind.

And so, he sighed as he lowered his voice.

"A message came for us late in the night. Someone left it outside our chambers. We do not yet know who," he began as Cregan raised a brow.

"What did it say?" he asked.

"It was from Lysa, your aunt," Eddard added.

"She asked your sister to be cautious and proposed that it was the Lannisters who had killed Jon and now tried to kill you," and it was just the thing that Cregan had warned him upon his return, and now Lysa, Jon's wife spoke of the same thing.

And yet, it did not make sense. For in the end, it was Prince Joffrey who had lost his life, not Cregan, and she doubted the Queen would ever desire such a thing.

"You accused the Lannisters of the same thing," Eddard added as Cregan rubbed his chin.

"We are yet to find the man who paid the bandits? Could it really be the ..." and he did not voice out the rest as Cregan shook his head.

"I do not think that the Lannisters were behind this attack," he said much to his surprise.

"What!" he gasped as he frowned.

"But you said that..."

"I know what I said," Cregan cut in as he raised his hand.

"Just listen to me. I know that the Lannisters may have a clear motive to go after Jon Arryn, but they were not the only ones with a motive," Cregan answered.

"What do you mean?" he asked and Cregan's lips thinned before he answered

"I think there is someone else trying to take advantage of the tension between our two Houses, trying to pit us against one another, just for their own profit," and that was Robert's thinking as well.

"The Targaryens," he whispered as Cregan's eyes widened.

"Maybe, but they are too far to do anything as such. No, the enemy is near us, and I think I have an idea just who it might be," and Eddard's eyes widened at those words.

"What?" he asked as he rose up from the chair.

"You know who attacked you?" he asked, and his son nodded slowly.

"I think I have an idea," he answered.

"Who?" he asked as his fists boiled in rage, for as soon as he had the name, he would slit that person's throat for laying a hand on his child.

"Promise me you won't do anything," Cregan added, much to his surprise.

"What do you mean by that? They tried to kill you, they killed a Prince, and you want me to do nothing..."

"I am not asking you to do nothing. I am asking you to not do anything rash and not speak of it to anyone else," Cregan voiced out, and Cregan looked into his eyes.

"Promise me," he pleaded again, and Eddard felt as if he was looking into his sister's eyes.

"Curse you! Curse you and these games!" he whispered as he shook his head, and he saw Cregan look down in embarrassment.

"I never thought that you would ever become like this! Had I known, perhaps I would never have sent you that wretched place!" and he began to lament his decision to agree to Robert's word as he looked at his son, a son he barely recognized anymore.

But how much did he know him?

'Trust him, brother. Trust your son. He knows more than the both of us combined,' and those words were Benjen's last words to him, and he still wondered.

"Tell me the name! Tell me the name and I promise you that I won't do anything," he agreed finally as Cregan sighed and looked into his eyes.

"His name is...."

.

.

.

And Eddard could hardly believe Cregan's words as he heard that name and the implications behind it. Just what had become of the capital, he thought as he tried to understand the games that were being played.

"Are you certain of all these allegations?" he asked, and Cregan nodded.

"More of the stealing and the assassination than of the rest, but yes. I believe that all this is his doing, and he is using lady Lysa to pit us against the Lannisters," and to hear of Lysa Tully, his blood boiled as he thought his wife's sister and how she may have betrayed her own husband.

And then he remembered something else.

"Is this why you were so cautious about your aunt?" he asked, for even in Catelyn's letter, there would rarely be anything about Lysa, much to his wife's dismay.

And Cregan nodded.

"That and she usually kept to herself and rarely, if ever, left her manse for anything," Cregan answered, but that raised another question.

"Then how do you know all this?" he asked, and Cregan sighed as he answered slowly.

"I cannot answer that," he said, looking into his eyes.

"Not yet, but I swear on the Old Gods that I speak nothing but the truth. This is doing," Cregan pleaded, and he believed in his son; he did.

"Why did you not speak of it to Jon?" he asked as Cregan shook his head.

"I tried once, but Jon Arryn trusted him implicitly. He thought me young and naive and asked me to never speak ill of him again," Cregan answered, and he could believe it.

Compared to him, Cregan must have been a young boy by then, not yet a man. Jon would have thought it all to be a boy's folly and must have rubbished his words, paying them no attention.

"He has endeared himself to many people, those he couldn't impress, he bought or handled through other means," and Eddard sat down once more, his head reeling from the shock of it all.

"What has become of the capital?" he lamented, for treason seemed rampant there, treason, lies, and greed. He had not even stepped into the city, and yet he had begun to hate it all.

"I told you before didn't I," his son began slowly.

"The capital is a far worse place than you may think, and if you are not cautious enough, you would be eaten alive," and it still surprised him that boy of barely five saw and understood it all, while Eddard could hardly wrap his head around it all.

"I never really understood just how bad things were for you?" Eddard whispered as Cregan shrugged.

"I survived, for I stayed quiet and made myself someone inconsequential, but you cannot do that. You walk into the city as the most powerful man in the realm, one who would have not jus the King's trust but his power as well, given that King Robert has little to no interest in matters beyond whores, feasts, and wine," and that he had come to understand well in little time Robert had been here.

His friend had changed much since the last time he had seen him, and it was not for the better.

"They will come for you, try to curry your favor through various means," Cregan began.

"They will offer advice but give you lies. Offer you wine, but give poison. Offer trust only to betray you in the next breath. In the capital, you can trust no one but yourself," Cregan voiced out to Eddard.

"Yes, I am beginning to understand that as well," and he is beginning to loathe that city more and more.

And he wondered what would have become of him if Cregan was not here. Would he have known all this? Would he have seen through these games?

"Then how are we to deal with this man?" he asked.

"We cannot accuse him of hiring the bandits or any one of his other transgressions, for we will have difficulty in proving those charges. But the gold. The stolen gold is something that we can use. He has the Gold Cloaks in his pocket. That is why you must use your own med to do the task, and you must do so soon after your arrival before you even have the proof," Eddard shook his head.

"I will not accuse a man of treason without proof," for it would mean condemning him to his death. And as much as he loathed the bastard, it would not be fair.

"If you wait and try to obtain proof against him, he will escape the city before anyone can touch him. Half the servants in the capital are in his pocket, and the other half report to another master. And the second anyone gets wind of your intentions, they would make use of it for their own purpose, and either the man flees, or he makes it so that we never ever find the proof of his treason," but Eddard sighed as he shook his head.

"You have given me much to think of," and with that, he stood up and rubbed his throbbing head, and just as he was about to leave, he remembered something.

"The bard," he began.

"The one that rescued you, he has asked that you determine his reward," and it was a strange request, but not the strangest one he had heard.

"Yes, I have just the thing. The man told me that he wishes to acquire a somewhat rare material that is only found in the mountains, where the mountain clans rule," Cregan began, and Eddard frowned.

"What material is that?" he asked.

"Obsidian," Cregan answered, and he nodded, finding it a bit strange, but he had heard far stranger things.

"I told him that the clansmen are quite loyal to our House. Just give him a letter with your seal that would perhaps help him make a deal with the mountain clansmen so that he may take some of the obsidian in their lands. That would be enough for him," and Eddard nodded.

"Will that be enough?" he asked.

"Yes, it will be...."

0000

CATELYN STARK nee TULLY

Catelyn turned to face her lord and husband in worry.

"You cannot be serious," she asked, as they both retired into their chambers for the night after a tiresome and grueling day. She had spent most of the time worrying and thinking over Lysa's message from last night.

And now Ned wished to leave for the capital all by himself.

"You wish to go to the capital all by yourself, even after Lysa's message," she asked, and he shook his head.

"No, not by myself. Cregan will be with me," and she shook her head.

"Can the boy even make the journey?" she asked, given that he had just begun to recover from his wounds.

"He has assured me that he can," and she shook her head.

"You read Lysa's message, she believes that the Lannisters killed Jon Arryn. I cannot let you go to the capital by yourself. You need me there, Ned," she pleaded, but he seemed unconvinced.

"I need you here more," he said as he held her arms.

"Cregan has spent years in the capital, and loathed as am I to admit it, he knows more of the capital, its plots and its politics than either of us. He will be there to help me, but with me gone Robb shall have to rule in my stead, and as proud as I am of him, he is still a boy and will need someone to rely on," he pleaded and that was well thought but she did not think it wise to let him walk into the lion's den all by himself.

"Still, Ned is it wise to put so much trust in Cregan? He is a boy much like Robb as well," and his lips thinned, but Ned shook his head.

"There was a reason that I chose to send him for the fostering and I have come to learn that I did not choose wrong," and the words were cryptic enough to make her frown.

"Why do you say that?" and Ned shook his head.

"I just never thought he would grow up so quickly," he said as he sat down on the bed, and Catelyn plopped down beside him.

"Sometimes I can hardly imagine just how quickly he grew up," and she felt the same way. Cregan had always been the more mature of her children, having the sharpest mind.

But the Capital had seemed to have honed it even more. Robb and Sansa had told her of how Cregan was ahead of them both in his lessons and even in his words and actions; the boy showed a level of maturity not often expected of a boy his age.

"They say children who grow up away from their parents often mature early," she added, with a bit of sadness, but it was a sacrifice they had to make for his better future.

And it had paid back, and the boy was now set to marry a Princess. An honor that had come to him as a result of his sacrifice.

"Sansa and Arya will not be happy by your decision," and neither was she, but Ned seemed to have had made his mind. And as much as she loved her husband, she knew just how Stubborn the wolf blood in him made him.

"They were rather excited about going to the capital. Sansa moreso than Arya, but she wanted to follow after her beloved brother," and Arya had always had a soft spot for Cregan, given how the boy indulged and supported her in her agregious actions.

Even now, her daughter was being taught riding and sword fighting despite all her protests because of him. But at the same time, the Septa also mentioned how Arya was following along in her other lessons, perhaps motivated by having her own desires fulfilled.

"I will talk to them and make them understand," Ned said, and that would be better.

"It would be best for them if they stayed back for the time being. And I am not averse to taking them to the capital, I just don't think that this is the right time," he assured her as he grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes.

And time was indeed perilous, and the tensions between the two Houses were rather high, she could see why Ned would be cautious, especially after Lysa's letter.

"But what of Lysa's letter?" she asked.

"Leave that to me. I will look into it, but there is something I must ask you about," he suddenly added, and Catelyn nodded.

"Anything?" she asked, and she saw his eyes narrow as he hesitated for a second until he finally opened his mouth and asked something she had never expected him to.

"I have heard that when you were young, the current Master of Coin fostered with you at Riverrun," and she was taken aback by those words but nodded nonetheless.

"Yes, Petyr was a ward at my father's castle. We grew up together," she replied and he sighed as those grey eyes of his narrowed.

"Was he close with you and Lysa....."

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