LION'S LEGACY
64. Heartbreak

        Across the Narrow Sea, Tyrion and Varys walked through the streets of a city in Volantis, speaking of Joanna. It had been months since she had gone missing and still, there was no sign of her.

"You had one job," Varys complained in a frustrated tone, "One job to protect the Princess and you failed."

"You let her go, too," Tyrion snapped at Varys, glaring up at him, "She's her mother's daughter, as much as I worry for her, she's most likely fine."

"Becoming a Dothraki Khaleesi, that's what she's doing," A voice behind them spoke up in a cold, threatening tone.

The two men whipped themselves around, finding themselves in the presence of Ser Rickard Royce. Dreamer, Joanna's direwolf, stood at his side.

"You had one fucking job and you couldn't even do that. Protect the Princess. You're in Essos, away from all threats, yet you've still failed. It seems I'll have to do the job for you as I should've done in the first place," He explained in a venomous tone, yet both men seemed to be stunned speechless by his sudden appearance and the revelation about Joanna being a Khaleesi, "How in the seven hells did I hear about Joanna marrying Khal while I was in Westeros, yet someone whose been in Essos months hasn't even heard?"

"She what?!" Tyrion exclaimed in disbelief, an alarmed look on his face as he exchanged a look with Varys.

"She's pregnant, too. With a son, I've heard," Ser Rickard continued with an attitude, "She's fifteen. How did you let a fifteen-year-old run off, become a Khaleesi, and fall pregnant with his son?"

"Last I heard, you were serving the enemy, Ser Rickard," Varys pointed out, earning a glare from the knight.

"Which is the greatest mistake I could have ever made. I would rather die than serve a usurper. Princess Joanna is alive and I will serve her until my dying breath, I swear it by the Old Gods and the New. I will do what both of you couldn't. I will find the Princess and keep her safe." He explained, earning an odd look from Tyrion.

"How do you expect to find her? The Dothraki are nomads. They're always on the move," He complained, only to watch as Ser Rickard gestured down to Dreamer.

"And I have a direwolf connected to the princess in ways none of us could ever imagine. She will help me find the princess," He explained in a calm tone, "And the two of you will stay here, away from the princess. Understand?"

"Who are you to--" Tyrion began to complain, only to suddenly freeze as Dreamer stepped toward him and growled in his face.

The direwolf was full-grown, making it so that she was even larger than Tyrion himself was. Tyrion flinched slightly, backing up as the direwolf got into his face, bearing her teeth.

"It seems the direwolf agrees with me, Lord Tyrion," Ser Rickard spoke up in a mocking tone, "She knows you're not fit to protect Joanna. After all, it's been months since she married that Khal and still, you haven't found her. I will do what you failed to do. Keep her safe."

Without another word said, Rickard turned on his heel and walked away, Dreamer at his side.

Out of all the Queensguard Knights, Rickard, indeed, was the one most fit to protect Joanna. It wouldn't be the first time he protected her. He saved her in the black cells years ago when she was visiting Tyrion and was nearly attacked by one of the prisoners, resulting in both of them falling sick.

Jaime and Edric were the ones most fit to protect Lyanna, the only ones who could truly understand that she'd be able to fight most of her battles herself. Just like her mother.

Ser Steffon was the one most fit to protect Torrhen. They were both content, but knew when it was time to fight and be lethal.

Edmyn was the one most fit to protect Olyvar and Eddard. They needed someone young and able to understand how they acted, not try to stop them from being young and reckless at times.

And Brienne. Oh, Brienne. Now that one was a mistake. No one could protect Rickard. He was as a wild as a wolf could become. It would be impossible for her to truly get her hands on him, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try.

She didn't realize, though, that the Hound was the only one who could truly protect Rickard. The one who could make sure he didn't get himself killed in his numerous acts of violence against those who stood against his family.

____

    At the Golden Tooth in the Westerlands, thunder rumbled in the sky through the darkness. It was nighttime and three Reachmen sat just outside the encampment since they had been appointed to keep watch through the knight.

In their free time, they found themselves beginning to argue about who was the best fighter in Annalys' Queensguard.

"It's got to be Ser Edric Dayne. Last I saw him, he cut through five men like he'd carve through a cake," The first one commented, but the two others were quick to argue.

"What about Ser Rickard Royce?" He questioned, recalling the events of what happened in the throne room months before, "After he released from his duties in Queen Margaery's Royal Guard, he left so angrily that he killed five men before leaving the city, all of them armed!"

"Loras Tyrell?" The third man asked, causing the two others to laugh.

"Loras Tyrell?" The first one questioned, laughing in amusement, "He's prettier than his sister, the queen."

"How good could he be?" The second one complained, a large amused smile on his face, "He spent years stabbing Ser Edmyn Hightower and Edmyn ain't dead."

The three men began to laugh in amusement, only to stop when they turned their head and listened as the horse began to neigh nervously.

The first one stood up, frowning in concern as he placed his flask down. "The horses seem spooked to you?"

"They're horses, they get spooked by their own shadows," The second one complained, not seeing it as a big deal.

"Shh," The first one told the two others in a hushed tone, "Do you hear that? There's something out there."

The two other soldiers stood up to investigate the darkness. They moved forward cautiously, only to suddenly hear the low, menacing growls of two wolves.

The three men were quick to draw their swords. However, before they could react, Winter and Dusk leaped from the darkness and attacked them.

From a distance, Eddard and Olyvar sat on their horses in the front of the Stark army alongside Daryn. Each of them sat quietly on their horses, listening as the wolves descended upon the Reachmen.

"King in the North!" Daryn suddenly shouted, unsheathing his sword.

Olyvar repeated his actions, as did the rest of the men before they rode forward and attacked the Reachmen who dared to set camp in the Westerlands to attack them.

Shouldn't they have known?

It was foolish to go into a Lion's Den when they were fighting against a Lion. They were practically walking into a trap.

Eddard may have been mostly wolf like his father, but he still had some lion in him. He proved just that at that very moment.

____

When dawn came, the Northern forces had completed their assault on the encampment and defeated them. Numerous bodies and wounded men laid across the field. Horses neighed and soldiers cried out in pain.

Eddard and Olyvar walked with Edmyn and Daryn, the man who seemed to give them the most guidance throughout the war.

He was, after all, their uncle by marriage. He was their Aunt Sansa's husband and she, a woman who barely trusted any man, trusted and loved Daryn. It proved to them that he was something worth trusting. He was family to them.

  Edmyn was family, too, a father-figure for them at a time where they both believed their father was dead. They had known Edmyn since they were four. They knew him a hell of a lot more than they knew anyone else in their army. They trusted him with their lives and they were smart to. Edmyn would die for both boys in a heartbeat if it came down to it.

"Ten Hightower Soldiers dead for every one of ours," Daryn spoke up and glanced over at Edmyn warily, but he didn't seem to be bothered.

They were his brother's men, after all, and he hated his brother. He wanted him dead.

"We've got nowhere to keep all these prisoners, barely enough food to feed our own," Daryn continued on, much to Eddard's dismay.

"We're not executing prisoners, my lord," Eddard complained, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Then what shall we do with them if he can't feed them, Your Grace?" Daryn complained, causing Olyvar to exchange a look with his brother.

"If I may..." Olyvar trailed off, adding into the conversation, "If we head a bit more west instead of south, we will reach Ashemark within no time. It is controlled by the Marbrands. As a trueborn son of Annalys Lannister, they'll surely come to your aid and supply you with food, Eddard."

"And there's a solution," Eddard decided and when he wasn't looking, both Daryn and Edmyn face-palmed themselves.

"And what happen if they refuse, Your Grace?" Edmyn complained in a calm tone, trying his hardest not to snap at the boy who clearly inherited the Stark's horrible mind for politics.

Eddard opened his mouth to answer the question him. Before he could, however, his attention went elsewhere when he heard a man screaming loudly in agony.

"No, don't! Don't! Please!" The man screamed as Allyria tended to his wounds alongside one of the Silent Sisters.

The wounded soldier struggled as Allyria removed his ripped pants and tried to tend to his bloody legs.

"The rot has set in," Allyria informed the man and the woman assisting her as the man continued to scream loudly, pleading for her to stop, "Shh. The rot will spread if we don't take the foot now."

"No, you can't!" The man shouted and with that, Eddard began to approach them, looking concerned.

Without saying another word to Daryn, Edmyn, or Olyvar, Eddard knelt next to Allyria and assisted her in holding the man down. "Ser! Please, Ser. I can't lose my foot, please! I can't be a--" He began to beg Eddard, who was quick to cut him off.

"You'll die if she doesn't, I'm sorry," Eddard told him quietly and the man continued to shake his head.

He attempted to sit up, but Eddard forced him back down. "I don't want to be a cripple. Please!" He shouted loudly and Daryn was quick to speak up.

"Surely, one of our men needs your attention more than this one, my lady," Daryn complained, causing Allyria to turn to him with an annoyed look.

"I don't treat the wounds of one side and not the other, my lord. I help any who are in need," She snapped at him in a surprisingly calm tone.

Olyvar began to smile slightly, turning to look at Daryn, whose eyes widened slightly at her coldness.

"Put this in your mouth and lie down. You don't want to watch," Eddard demanded, forcing a belt into the man's mouth before forcing him to lay back down, "Bite on it! It's better than biting your own tongue, trust me on that, Ser."

Eddard continued to hold the man down as Allyria began to saw the man's foot off. The man screamed through the gag that Eddard placed in his mouth.

The Stark boy turned to look at Allyria, who saw the man's foot off without making a face or flinching. He gave her an impressed look and stared at her closely, gradually beginning to smile.

Knowing that eyes were on her, Allyria turned to Eddard, who was quick to look away. She rolled her eyes at his actions and continued on with her task of sawing the man's foot off.

"The prince, shy around a girl...Now, that's a new one," Edmyn whispered to Olyvar, who smiled slightly and shook his head at how true his words were.

Later on, after Allyria had treated the man, she was assisted in placing him on a cart before he was driven away.

Soon enough, Eddard approached her. She turned to face him, smiling at the armor she found herself seeing him wear constantly now.

It was like the armor his father was said to always wear. However, on one arm, it had the direwolf sigil of House Stark and the other was a lion, the sigil of House Lannister.

She supposed that Annalys and Robb had seen that coming since the moment Eddard and Lyanna were born and grew up to embrace both sides of themself. The Lannister side and the Stark side.

She tried to avoid him most of the time, the secret of Annalys still being alive heavily weighing down on her more than usual lately. She knew Eddard deserved to know, but she made a promise to his mother.

She also knew that if Eddard found out his mother was still alive and being treated horribly, he most likely would end up heading back to the Riverlands to save her instead of continuing on to Casterly Rock.

And to defeat the men in the Riverlands, they needed the Lannister army and Lyanna.

That was the thing. What would be more important to Eddard? Saving the mother he thought was dead or saving his twin sister? How could anyone ever make such a decision without regretting the end result?

That was another reason she decided to keep the fact that Annalys was still alive a secret from Eddard. She supposed that was what Annalys thought about when she told Allyria to not tell Eddard the truth. She didn't want him to have to make such a decision. His siblings or his mother.

"You've been avoiding me," Eddard suddenly spoke up, snapping Allyria out of her thoughts.

"Have not," Allyria argued, turning away from Eddard as she maintained a calm expression.

"Yes, you have," Eddard responded, rushing to stand in front of Allyria before she could walk away, "Have I done something to wrong you?"

She looked up at Eddard, who seemed genuinely worried about the whole ordeal.

"You have an army to lead, Your Grace, you don't need me distracting you. I am a liability in your presence," She confessed and it was honestly the truth.

Eddard knew nothing of her past, but she was a commoner who was only known due to her tremendous skills of performing surgeries and tending to wounds in ways that had an end result better than most maesters.

However, despite that, she was still a commoner. She could see Eddard was falling in love with her. She, too, cared for him, but she knew she wasn't fit to be with a prince, let alone a king.

She didn't realize, though, that Annalys had raised her children to see past stations, to allow themselves to fall for someone, regardless of their ranking in nobility or even if their were of the same sex as them. Lyanna was a perfect example of that one.

It became silent between them. Eddard began to frown at her words, looking to be concerned about her confession.

She sighed in defeat, on the verge of walking away. Before she could, however, Eddard grabbed onto her hand.

She hesitantly turned to face him once more, feeling uneasy. "You could never be a distraction, nor a liability, Allyria," He assured her in a soft tone, "I enjoy your presence, believe it or not. More than I can say about the rest of the men in my army."

Allyria laughed softly, shaking her head in disapproval since she knew where he was headed. "I am a nurse, Your Grace. A commoner, at that, nothing more," She argued in a hushed tone, a nervous look on her face, "You're a king, someone fit to marry a lady of a Great House."

"A lady that would never be as pretty or as interesting as you are, my lady," Eddard complained, gradually beginning to smile at Allyria, "You've proven to me there's more to being with a lady than bedding them. That I can fall in love with them without even kissing them. That it doesn't all have to be physical."

Allyria's eyes widened in alarm, realizing he was saying he was falling in love with her. What the fuck was he thinking?

She refused to let anything like that happen to between them, it could risk everything for him. And she cared for him far too much to let him die for falling in love with someone he shouldn't have.

"Apologies, Your Grace. I think I gave you the wrong idea. I do not care for you like that, not in the slightest," Allyria lied to Eddard, whose eyes widened at her 'confession'.

Eddard immediately let go of Allyria's hand, staring at her in disbelief. "I-I don't understand--" He began to complain, but Allyria cut him off.

"What happened during our journey through the Riverlands was purely my duty as a loyal subject of the crown. To escort the rightful prince to safety in the North," She explained to him, despite all of it being lies. She frowned, trying to maintain composure as she saw how hurt Eddard looked, "I mean no offense by this, Your Grace, but are you truly so used to ladies falling for you that you just assumed that I felt the same?"

Allyria tried her best to contain her tears as she whipped herself around and walked away. She tried to contain her emotions, despite wanting to cry. She loved him, but she knew she couldn't let him risk everything for her.

She did something at that moment that even Annalys herself couldn't do with Robb twenty years before, despite it being the right thing to do.

Eddard watched Allyria walk away, a heartbroken look on his face.

Just then, Olyvar walked over, clasping Eddard on the shoulder, oblivious to what had just happened.

Despite his sudden appearance, Eddard didn't turn to his brother. He continued to stare off in the direction that Allyria had gone off in.

"What did I miss?" Olyvar asked, a concerned look on his face when he noticed the heartbroken look on his brother's face, "Are you alright, brother?"

"I think I just got my heartbroken," He whispered softly, the feeling foreign to him. In a way, it made him want to cry, but there was no way he was going to let himself cry over a girl when he was over here, fighting in a war.

"You think?" Olyvar frowned, giving his brother a weird, yet judging look, "You're probably just feeling that way because you've never been rejected before. She's just a girl, Eddard, you'll find another."

"I don't want other girls, I wanted her," Eddard complained in annoyance, "Am I really that fucking stupid that I thought she felt the same way?"

"Maybe she does," Olyvar shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe she has common sense and knows being a Queen to a rebel at a time like this is a death sentence."

"I'd protect her, she knows that," Eddard retorted and Olyvar sighed, shaking his head in disapproval.

He stepped forward, placing a hand on Eddard's shoulder. "I could've sworn Father said the same thing about Mother and look how they ended up," he admitted in a whisper, both of them looking saddened by the words.

It was true and that was what pained him most of all.

No one could protect anyone anymore and that was the hard, cold truth.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Ser Rickard's heading to Joanna!!

'I think I just got my heart broken' I literally can't with Eddard 😭😂

I might update a second time today