The Birth of Dragons

Lord Eddard Stark

Pentos was hot and humid, but it was a room and a manse, gardens where he could recuperate and get his strength back. It drove him mad, but he was seeing the benefits of it now. His leg hurt like mad though, and he was not sure he would ever be able to walk on it properly, but that was not the matter now. Things were moving, he was learning of war, of fights in Westeros, and he was not sure what to make of them. The promise he had made at Harrenhal with Brandon and Robert played through his mind, the naivety of it all before they went mad. Before the world went mad. It plays through his mind, and he wants to scream, he wants to beg for it to stop. But it does not stop, and he knows it will not stop until he fulfils his oath, though how he does not know. They leave Pentos after what feels an age, Ned on a horse, gritting his teeth, the magister on something a bit more elaborate. And as they move through the deserts, they talk.

"So how long have you and the Spider been planning this little venture of yours?" Ned asks, and upon seeing the stiffening of the magister's shoulders, Ned finds himself saying. "Come now magister, if you want me to take part in this, to renege on everything we fought the rebellion for, I deserve to know."

The magister laughs, but it does not seem genuine. "You have a true point there my Lord of Winterfell." There is a pregnant pause. "Very well. The spider and I have been planning this venture of ours, as you describe it, from the moment Robert Baratheon got out of Gulltown alive." The knowledge surprises Ned, he remembers hearing about Gulltown, about how Robert came a dagger's breadth away from dying, and his surprise must show on his face, for the magister chuckles. "Ah yes, Baratheon did nearly die at Gulltown, but we decided to allow him to live. Or rather, we were forced to accept he was going to live."

"So you thought that there would be a situation where the Targaryens would need to be protected right from that very moment? How could you be sure that Robert and the rebellion would succeed? Robert could have died on numerous occasions before he got to King's Landing." Ned points out, he remembers seeing his friend in the arms of a whore at the Stoney Sept, right after they had won the battle of the bells, and he remembers the rage he had felt.

The Magister seems to be looking at him quite closely, judging by how quickly he looks away when Ned looks at him. "Robert Baratheon managed to break Gulltown and get the proud Lord Grafton to bend the knee to him and recognise the rebellion. That was no easy feat, Grafton had always been a difficult customer. And then he won at Summerhall, and we truly believed we needed to do something."

"And what did you do then?" Ned asks, his curiosity getting the better of him, he does not like thinking over the days of the rebellion, of the chaos that it brought, of the feeling of his sister in his arms.

"We made the necessary arrangements. We spoke to the people we knew, the contacts we had both made across the waters. And we planned. The King could not have known about what we were doing. Otherwise we would have all been set down to drown." The magister responds.

"How would the King have found about you? You were across the sea, if anything the spider would have gotten into danger had you been found out." Ned points out.

The magister nods. "You speak truly, though even then, there were webs that were in King's Landing that had been there from before our time. We had to be very careful, and so we watched and we prodded, and then we moved."

Ned nods, gritting his teeth slightly as a rap of pain shoots through him. "And what is my role in all of this? You have reminded me of an oath I swore, but you have not told me what you want from me, or my family." The fear of what is expected of him has kept him up late into the night sometimes, and so he waits with baited breath.

The magister does not keep him waiting long. "We want you to raise the north for the rightful rulers of Westeros. The north will not bend to anyone else but a Stark. Long ago, your ancestor and the Dragon, the greatest of the Targaryens agreed that so long as there was a Stark in Winterfell, there would be a Targaryen on the throne and vice versa. The rebellion broke that. And now we want you to fix it."

Ned nods mutely, his fear growing. He remembers what he did during the rebellion, the things that were destroyed, the people who were harmed, he does not know how he would be able to convince the dragons to accept him back into their fold. Especially if they have the dragons as he has heard whispered. He eventually voices these concerns. "What if they do not accept me?"

The magister laughs. "Oh they will. They are not Aerys, nor are they Rhaegar, they have not underestimated your value."

At that moment riders appear, one man dressed in a white cloak and silver armour of the Kingsguard, whilst another is dressed with a half chain of a Maester. The magister speaks. "Gentlemen, welcome. You know Lord Eddard, Lord Eddard, this is the Maester of their graces, and their Kingsguard knight." Ned nods at both men. "They shall take you the rest of the way." With that the magister claps his hands and two chests are given over, then the man disappears with the rest of his entourage, leaving Ned with the two men, who look at him and then ride. Having no choice, he follows them, they ride in silence until they come to a little boat, they dismount, and just before getting to the boat, the knight stops him and announces. "Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell." People appear on the boat, an old man and his wife, a grizzled man, and a woman who makes Ned gasp, he thought her dead, and then, then there is a sight he does not expect, a boy with silvery hair and purple eyes, eyes like the ones he saw once long ago. "His Grace, King Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of that name."