"Each of your six children has an icefang wolf?" Dany asked."Five. Snow—he's a bastard!"
"Uh, alright, Jon Snow is a bastard!" Dany nodded in agreement, quite pleased. "So, have you noticed that your children share a special bond with their icefang wolves? The wolves are unusually intelligent, almost human-like."
Lady Stoneheart remained silent for a long while. Gripping her throat, she hissed through clenched teeth, "The Imp sent an assassin to kill Bran. Summer saved him. Robb's Grey Wind—he even gave warnings. He growled and barked fiercely at Sybell and Roose Spicer, tried to bite them. But to Raynald, he was affectionate.
At the Twins, Grey Wind tugged on Robb's trousers, trying to drag him out. He bared his teeth at the Freys—Robb, though, locked him away."
"There you go. Your five children were all blessed by the Old Gods, very likely all gifted with the skinchanger ability."
"No, no. Don't slander my children," Lady Stoneheart vehemently denied.
Dany frowned. "Are you not aware of your own condition? The Children of the Forest, magicians, gods, the Old Gods, skinchangers—they're all real. Since you could be brought back from the dead, why couldn't your children be skinchangers?I know skinchangers and wolf-spirits have been demonized in Westeros, their reputation stained. But that's merely how the Andals suppressed the Old Gods' faith. Just like today, when the Red Priests declare the Seven are false gods."
"The Seven are false gods. Seven rotting sticks! The long night is dark and full of terrors—only the Lord of Light, R'hllor, can lead us to the dawn," Thoros of Myr interjected.
"Seven above, may the White Walkers take this heretic!" Septon Meribald muttered a curse.
Casting a glance at both of them, Dany continued, "Skinchangers are children of nature, blessed with mysterious, powerful abilities. Whether they use their power for good or evil depends on their hearts—not their gift. Arya Stark once released her icefang wolf into the Riverlands. You knew that, right?"
Lady Stoneheart nodded.
"That giant she-wolf recently seen roaming the Riverlands with a pack? That's the icefang wolf. Your daughter's icefang wolf."
"Ah, so that wolf was an icefang," one of the nearby outlaws said, suddenly enlightened.
"Nymeria," Lady Stoneheart murmured.
"I sensed a little girl in that wolf's body—around eleven or twelve years old."
"What did she look like?" Lady Stoneheart asked urgently.
Dany furrowed her brow in thought. "Grey eyes, brown hair, horse-faced, a bit ugly."
"That's her. Arya. She's not ugly." A glimmer of life returned to Lady Stoneheart's eyes, the deathly gloom slightly retreating.
"Clearly, the Lannisters never caught her."
"We know," said the big man, Harwin. "Yoren disguised Arya as a boy and smuggled her into the Night's Watch recruits. I even met her. Sadly, the Hound kidnapped her in the middle of the night."
"Oh? Why would the Hound kidnap her?" Dany asked curiously.
Thoros explained, "The Hound won the 'Hand's Tourney' and earned forty thousand gold dragons. When passing through the Riverlands, he was captured by Lord Beric. We used his gold to aid the poor.He wanted to ransom Arya back to Robb for payment."
"How can we find Arya?" Lady Stoneheart asked.
"Well…"
Arya was training with the Faceless Men in Braavos. She likely couldn't enter her wolf-spirit during the day, but at night, she might slip into Nymeria through her wolf dreams.
With that in mind, Dany said, "You could search for that icefang wolf. But don't approach it during the day. Wait till night. Then have someone climb a tree and loudly call Arya's name. If the wolf responds, shout, 'Arya, your mother is looking for you.' If it gets emotional, you could try climbing down and interacting… Uh, but that's a bit dangerous."
"Not a bit—it's very dangerous!" a red-nosed old man shouted. "Just yesterday morning, that she-wolf almost ate us! She's become a beast, lost all humanity—"
Lady Stoneheart's icy glare made the old man shrink back. She continued, her voice torn and raspy, "You said… four children. Where is Sansa?"
"Everyone believes House Stark lost all its male heirs. That makes Lady Sansa the sole heir to Winterfell—immensely valuable. The question is, who needs her? Who needs the power of the North?"
"Every single man in the Seven Kingdoms wants her. They all want to become lord of Winterfell," said Ser Harroway Hunt.
Dany shot him a glance and smiled faintly. "You have a point, but not everyone has the right to bite into the finest mutton.
Lady Sansa vanished during Joffrey's wedding—right after Joffrey was poisoned. She slipped away from the Red Keep without a trace.Someone must've helped her, maybe even used her to poison Joffrey.
There are two types of people who'd want Joffrey dead. First, those whose interests he threatened by being king. Second, those who wanted to throw the newly stabilized realm into chaos.
And whoever did it must've known the Red Keep well—at least well enough to know a secret tunnel that leads from the keep to the sea."
"The sea?" Brienne exclaimed. "Lady Sansa left King's Landing by sea?"
"Isn't that obvious? The sea route is the safest and most discreet. Honestly," Dany said, looking strangely at the towering lady knight, "I don't understand why you came to the Riverlands to find her. Anyone can see the chaos here. Why would she come?"
"I thought Ser Dontos took Lady Sansa back to his homeland," Brienne mumbled.
"Who's Dontos?" Dany asked.
"A fool. Joffrey's court jester," Harroway Hunt replied.
"And his capabilities?"
"None. He's a drunken waste. But Lady Sansa did save his life once."
Dany rubbed her chin, trying to recall Game of Thrones plotlines, finally remembering the small character who was shot by Littlefinger.
"Ugh. You all knew he was a useless jester, yet you believed he knew the Red Keep's secret passages? That he could devise such a meticulous escape plan? Not every jester is Florian, and not every maiden is as lucky as Jonquil."
"Uh… Lady Sansa did love the story of 'Fool Florian and Jonquil,'" Harwin murmured.
"And you are?"
"My name's Harwin. My father was master of the stables at Winterfell. I served as the duke's guard. I know a bit about Lady Sansa," the big man explained.
"Petyr," Lady Stoneheart said slowly.
"What?"
"Petyr knows about the secret passage. He once brought… brought Eddard through it into a brothel to meet me." Lady Stoneheart's eyes were dark and deep, her voice cold as ice as she clutched her throat and spoke slowly, "And as you said… he profits in chaos. He took control of the Vale. And now… he has his eyes on the North!"
"And then… the dagger. He told me the dagger belonged to Tyrion. He lied to me. Lysa—Lysa and he—"
Suddenly, Catelyn understood everything. The entire sequence of cause and effect became clear.
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"Lady Sansa is in the Vale? I was just heading there to find her!" Brienne said, suddenly realizing.
"What about Bran and Rickon?" Lady Stoneheart looked at Dany with hopeful eyes.
Dany's words were logical and even supported by magical prophecy. Catelyn's trust in her grew, as did her expectations.
"There are rumors that Theon burned your two youngest sons—burned them until they were unrecognizable, their bodies charred black. But the question is—why would Theon kill his own brothers?"
"He's a chameleon. A kraken," Harwin blurted out.
"Then does that make him a deranged killer?"
"Uh… well, aside from being a bit of a lecher, he seems otherwise normal," Harwin replied hesitantly, glancing at his mistress.
Lady Stoneheart nodded slowly.
"This is serious. No matter how much affection he had for the two boys he grew up with, the Young Wolf didn't even kill the Kingslayer, who had murdered his father. If Theon is neither insane nor twisted, why would he kill hostages in his care?"
In recent years, Westeros had been falling into chaos. Guests' rights and sacred oaths were broken repeatedly. But killing captured nobles? That had only happened once—when Karstark killed two young Lannisters in a fit of rage.
Why?
Because he didn't dare!
Both sides had noble hostages. If you kill mine, wouldn't I kill yours?
Let's say Robb hadn't executed Karstark—what would've happened?
First, Karstark's eldest son was already dead. The reason Lord Karstark killed the young Lannisters was because his firstborn had been taken prisoner by the Lannisters, and his second and third sons were beheaded by the Kingslayer right in front of him. He harbored deep hatred for House Lannister.
But protecting noble hostages was an unspoken tradition in Westeros. If you kill my kin, do you really expect me to let your son return home for the holidays?
Second, since two Lannisters were killed and only one Karstark, Tywin might retaliate by killing another Northern noble.
And the family of that Northern noble would surely resent Karstark—and perhaps even Robb for allowing the murder to happen.
Finally, if you kill my hostage, and I kill yours, then no one can be ransomed anymore. Nobles would die like common soldiers, and the war would spiral completely out of control.
So, Robb was right to kill Karstark and pacify the Lannisters—just as Ned had to behead Mormont. The father and son weren't wrong in principle—the problem was they lacked finesse in how they acted.
If it were Dany, she would rather cut off her own dominant hand and send it to Tywin in atonement than execute Karstark.
This was not just about winning hearts—it was about a ruler's duty to protect and cherish their loyal vassals!
You can't expect others to give you unwavering loyalty while offering them nothing in return, can you?
Anyway, back to the point: treating noble hostages well is tradition—even the Ironborn don't usually break it (except Euron, of course).
Harwin translated for Catelyn, saying, "Theon likely never intended to kill them. It seems the two young lords escaped Winterfell with the help of a servant. Theon resorted to burning the corpses as punishment."
"Heh, even if he wanted to make an example of someone to establish authority, wouldn't killing one be enough? Why waste all your bargaining chips?" Dany chuckled.
"Well…"
"This proves that the two young Starks successfully escaped. Theon couldn't find them, so he deliberately burned the bodies until they were unrecognizable. Otherwise, wouldn't he have taken satisfaction in executing them himself?"
"That… makes a lot of sense!" Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Excellent. Daenerys is very clever—too clever. With just a few bits of information, you've practically reconstructed the entire event. Robb could never compare to you."
"Heh, thank you!" Dany said proudly.
"No." Lady Stoneheart's eyes suddenly flashed with icy killing intent. "Your cleverness should be a good thing. I was going to let you go, let you help me fight the Lannisters. But since my four children are still alive… I cannot let you live!"
Dany's smug smile froze. "What… did you say?"
"Kill her! Leave no chance for future trouble!" Lady Stoneheart shouted, pointing at Daenerys.
Clang clang clang! The bandits hesitated only a moment before unsheathing their swords and advancing on Daenerys.
(End of chapter)
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