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Here be Dragons by fadedaura
Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Game of Thrones Xover Rated: M, English, Fantasy & Drama, Percy J., Silena B., C. Beckendorf, Zoë N., Words: 176k+, Favs: 2k+, Follows: 2k+, Published: Jan 28, 2018 Updated: May 28, 2018
755Chapter 4
AN: Important
Well I need to clear u some stuff. First of all the North is a vast land in which humans are concentrated in settlements near the known keeps. I wont divide up the North like we have seen in maps. Rather what I perceive is that the Lord's power only extend to his nearby settlement. So there are huge swathes of land that most Northerners don't even know of. This could also be true to the Southern kingdoms to some extent.
The North is covered in woods and hills. In my imagination the Wolfswood is a mysterious place of which man had never completely traversed. That could also be said to the forest near the Karhold.
I used ' r/asoiaf/comments/1la8my/spoilers_all_speculative_westeros_demographic_maps/' as a reference for populations in each kingdom. I believe that this is the closest to which we could get in that front. More about that later.
Also thank you for the support. Your reviews give me the energy to write the story faster.
A special shout out to RoyalTwinFangs ideas which have helped me in deciding some of the things for the future chapters.
Without further ado, here is chapter 4. Enjoy, favorite, follow and review.
"Percy! Where are you," shouted Zoe as she walked through a dusty passage that was dark as the night..
It had been ten years since their birth and things had started to change in Winterfell. The massive castle that was unattended a decade ago had signs of repair. Sections that were abandoned over time were now refurbished and used to house various facilities. Even the town outside the massive castle, the Wintertown had started to expand.
Zoe remembered everything from the day she was born. She had arrived in a whole new world thanks to Ananke. When she first met her parents, she didn't know what to make of them. She was not close to Pleione, her mother in her previous life. Her father was mostly absent and was only seen when he came by to give them orders during the first titan war. And after his defeat, he was put under the sky on top of Othrys, a place which she and her sisters couldn't enter. So all in all she never had parental figures in her life at all.
Lyarra and Rickard Stark… from the moment she was born, they showered her with love. She remembered how her father came to their room each and every day after a hectic days' work just to be with them. She remembered her mother singing her lullabies and telling them all about her family. How her parents played with her, how they protected her and her brothers in that assassination attempt eight years ago… she remembered it all.
'Do I love them?... Yes… I love them a lot,' she thought fondly reminiscing her father's goofy antics to make her laugh. He could b suck a loving and caring person to his loved ones despite the stoic look that he showed to the public
She, a person starved for love finally had the perfect family and life she always wanted.
Most of her formative years were spent at the great library with her brothers to get to know their world. They tried to read everything they could from history, to legends to other various disciplines. What Ananke had told them was true. This world, in which its borders are yet to be mapped, was a stagnant one. There had been no new innovation since the invention for more than two millennia. And the final breakthrough had been of metal forging.
In their previous word humankind went from metal forging, which was mastered during the Roman Era, to space age in that same span of the same amount of time that had passed. Things were holding back the progression of the world. For one, illuminated people didn't come out with their new inventions like in the renaissance era of earth. Another fact that halted progress was the absence of the printing press. All books within circulation were copied by hand. To copy a tome that was over a thousand pages with the flowing artistic handwriting the people of this world used would take over six months.
Since educational material were held back from the populous, the would be scientists and scholars were stunted in the early ages if their growth. Instead of learning materials, the noble of this world considered books to be a luxury item. And unlike the wealthy that led the industrial revolution on earth, these noble kept the status quo and had halted the society to a standstill.
Another constricting factor was the organizations like the Order of Maesters. These 'learned' men didn't pass don their craft to anybody outside their order. They kept a tight lid on everything they discovered albeit insignificant as they were and kept new innovations from emerging from the populous.
She and her brothers were lucky because Winterfell boasted one of the greatest collections of books in Westeros. It helped them to understand the nature of the world and know what to expect of it. Despite being in a state of stagnancy, this world was much richer that earth. They knew so little about the lay of the land. Even today the Northerners didn't know what to expect outside the population centers. There were so many novel things that she could not have imagined existing within the realm of mortals. For one the absurd amount of sentient creatures were astounding.
On earth humans, the various nature spirits and the giant clans were the only sentient creatures. But then again only humans truly belonged to the mortal world as dryads, naiads and the giants existed due to the influence of divine might on the mortal world. They originated from the gods themselves. Even she was a nature spirit born of titan blood and blood of Pleione the sea nymph before her divinity was stripped from her and reduced to a mortal. There the gods could create and destroy life on a whim.
But it was different in this world. Unlike theirs, this world didn't allow the deities direct access to the working of the natural forces. Here the deities were the representation of nature. Most of them seemed to have risen from nature spirits themselves. For an example she believed Mother Rhoyne the Rhoynar worshipped was the spirit of the River Rhoyne of Essos. She rose up to gain a divinity because of the faith she got from the worshipping masses. She believed this because she knew for a fact that the god's power was directly proportional to the faith they got from their followers. That was why the Greek Pantheon encouraged mortals to build so many temples in their honor. But that didn't mean you would lose power once your followers started to dwindle.
Faith was a complex topic even amongst the gods. They needed it to increase their power but they didn't need it to keep the power they obtained from it. There were many an arguments within the council about this. Some like Zeus wanted to force the mortals back into worshipping them, others like Athena wanted to keep quiet and be happy with the power they obtained in their prime. Some like Demeter and Hephaestus wanted to distance themselves from mortals further and let them be the deciders of their own fate.
But Zoe knew that the gods that had a constant following were the truly powerful ones. Hades had his followers in the underworld. It didn't matter who your parents were once you reached Elysium or the Fields of Asphodel. Down there only Hades mattered only he was worshipped. Another was Poseidon. He had his own followers in Atlantis. She found out about that in Elysium. Zeus despite being considered the most powerful didn't have access to either the Underworld or the Seas while his brothers went about Zeus' domain with impunity.
Coming back to the topic, because of the lack of divinity's direct hand in the evolution of life, many sentient creatures had sprung up in various locations on the planet. She had read about the giants that roamed the continent of Westeros during the early days of the era of the First Men, the Children of the Forest who blew up the arm and created the Stepstones. Though neither of these species were seen by humans for more than five millennia, stories about their existence wasn't forged as they appeared again and again through various sources. Also, there was a rumor about the existence of giants beyond the Wall.
Then, there were rumors about the 'Winged Men' from the City of Winged Men and the short, hairy and stocky humans from Sothoyros that were eerily similar to the dwarves that died out on earth a long time ago.
These were just a few examples. Because of the lack of divinity, they mingled on the mortal without a barrier like the mist making them invisible to the mortals. That 'made' them mortals as well since the barriers existed to separate the kingdom of mortals from the divine.
She loved reading about these new things. She had lived for a long time, both as a Hesperide and also a huntress under Artemis. So she was quite aware of almost everything their world had to offer since she had experienced them at least once. But here… everything was new. A world that was not a game to the higher powers.
Her sense of adventure had awoken and she wanted to travel the land. But she was constrained by an overly loving father who seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to her. So she was confined to fantasizing about the wonders the world held for now. She especially wanted to see the Wall. This massive structure reminded of the ancient walls of Troy. While the Trojan wall was only about 20 meters in height, this massive structure was almost a quarter of a kilometer in height. And it spanned three hundred miles.
It was mind blowing as it was created by mortals with no divine intervention at all. It could not be matched by any of the creations humans achieved back on earth. Shame that its method of creation was lost to time. But it also brought a sliver of pride as it had been her forefather who built it with the help of the Children.
"Percy!" she called again.
Winterfell was an expansive castle. From what she read, it as the largest castle in the Seven Kingdoms other than the mostly destroyed Harrenhal. While Winterfell was smaller when compared to Harrenhall, what they didn't count was the fact that Winterfell was a castle complex with its largest part being located underground. It was discounted when others compared castles. So you could imagine the size of the great northern keep. It was no wonder that most of the underground complex was abandoned as they didn't even know what to do with it.
Winterfell was built to be a safe harbor for the people of the North in the harsh winters by Brandon the Builder eight millennia ago. Though nowadays many keeps and holdfasts had sprung up to harbor the populous, Winterfell had never sized down. So much of the castle was abandoned. Nobody, not even the Stark Patriarch knew what lay in the abandoned parts of his home. Finding somebody down these expansive hallways was a chore and these parts were mostly avoided as many a folk who had gone down there were never seen again. And here she was trudging the same halls that she was warned to avoid searching for her wayward little brother.
She knew where Charles was. She didn't even have to hazard a guess because she knew that her brother was with their father in his solar. From when he was eight, Charles had started to help out their father in his various endeavors. Their father knew that all three of them were abnormally intelligent for their age. After haring some of Charles' advice to his problems when he started to moan about them in the night, he called for him to help him in his work. Charles was instrumental in reorganizing and redesigning the Wintertown. The town that was mostly haphazardly put together was now starting to see uniformity an order.
Residences were erected in one sector while other sectors were designated for various professions. This redesign also helped them to incorporated a new sewer system and introduce several key community buildings such as the bathhouse. Constructions were still going on, but the smallfolk were truly grateful for the change. It had been quite some time since a Lord had started to care about his subjects like this. Their father was grateful for Charles in these matters since it was his ideas that he implemented.
Obviously Charles' hands on these matters were mostly kept secret since their family wasn't keen on going public with how gifted their children were. It had taken that singe assassination attempt to realize how strong an affect the birth of triplets to the Stark family posed to the other lords. Since then the three mostly kept within the keep and only head out when they were needed in the public.
It helped that Winterfell had myriad secret tunnels and paths that one could take to go from one point to the other. Charles just used one to get into the solar after his father entered it. Their father was very welcoming of this as Charles would take his seat in the future. He was training her brother earlier than most Lords did with their own heirs.
Percy on the other hand was mostly in the library, the training yard or skulking somewhere in the abandoned parts of the castle. She still didn't understand his reasoning to venture in these cold abandoned pathways that no one had seemed to have ventured in a long time. He was like a hound on a blood scent chasing after the same thing that had been biting him for a long time.
"Percy!" she screamed this time. Her voice echoed in the abandoned corridor eerily raising her hair. It wasn't that she was scared. It was just that most of the abandoned parts of Winterfell felt… unnatural to her.
"Over here," Percy's voice rang from around a bend.
She walked slowly and sighed as the torch gave out. This part of the castle was two layers below ground level. It wasn't surprising that these tunnels weren't lit as the other parts of the castle were.
"Light," she murmured and a glowing orb of light appeared in front of her. She held up her hand and the orb floated on to it. The darkness was chased away by the soft greenish blue light and she started to go forward throwing down the torch she had carried down with her.
She had to admit, magic was pretty awesome. They might have lost their abilities, but their access to magic negated it. She was truly thankful to Ananke for teaching her the language of magic.
She and her brothers had been experimenting with the language for a long time. Obviously they were not foolish to do so in public. Nobody, not even their parents knew of their abilities. Percy had been rather miffed to find out his affinity with water had gone away after rebirth. He may not say it out loud, but he was rather proud of what he could do with his father's domains. She had seen him churn up hurricanes, typhoons and earthquakes. He even used his earthshaker powers during sword fights to create vibrations. These vibrations came at the most unexpected times causing internal damage to his opponents. Now that these abilities were gone he forced himself to retrain his fighting style.
'Not that he had to,' Zoe thought.
He musing was broken as she saw light filtering out of the only room at the end of the corridor. The doorway to it was so large that it had double doors. It was only slightly smaller than the entrance to the Great Hall. Its archway was incorporated with statues of wolves and was covered with artistic runes that even she couldn't understand. Runes were not a subject she was familiar with. It was something Percy and Charles had studied.
She entered the room and was stunned at what she saw.
"What is this?" she asked Percy who was sitting on a throne like chair in the centre of the room reading a massive tome that had stone slates as pages.
The entire room was lit with greenish werelight. Zoe knew that it must have been Percy who had done it. The room was massive. On one corner a large hot spring bubbled giving the room a pleasant temperature. Everything in the room was made of either obsidian or jade. There was a pile of weapons in one corner that glittered ominously. Another part of the room had a single bookshelf that housed more of those slate paged tomes that Percy was currently reading. There were even chests of jewels thrown about haphazardly. Most of the other items were things that she couldn't recognize by a single glance.
But what drew her breath away was the sunken jade slate that was about ten square meters in the centre of the room right in front of the throne where Percy sat. It was filled with symbols and words that seemed to flow in a graceful picture. The more she looked at it, the more it seemed to be alive. She could read certain words that crossed its surface because she was proficient in gramarye, the written for of the magical language. But it was like staring into a hypnotizing wheel. The more she stared at it, the more light minded she felt.
"This, dear sister is the heart of Winterfell," Percy spoke breaking Zoe out of her trance.
"What?" she asked trying to get her mind together.
"You asked me what this was, didn't you? Well… this is the heart of Winterfell. The entire castle was built around this room."
"Percy," she warned irritably because Percy was skimming around her inquiry just to get a rise out of her.
She loved Percy. That affection became more prominent ever since they became a real family after their rebirth. But the boy loved to tease her and get her riled up. During their younger days their mother, bless her, had found her giving Percy a thorough spanking for switching her clothes with Charles'. Lyarra had been mortified and scolded her despite Zoe's protests about Percy's mischievousness. Percy was rather close to their mother, even more so than the rest of his siblings. Maybe it was because he was the only one to grow up with one. Maybe it was due to his 'wild' nature that he seemed to have inherited from their mother more than his siblings. But what she knew was that he knew how to suck up to her to get his way.
That day her mother had forbidden her from 'punishing' her brothers. With the threat of bodily harm gone, Percy had started to tease her in subtly in front of their mother as he knew that he would get beaten up away from her. Though she did manage to administer he brand of punishment away from her mother's hawk like eyes, it only ended up with the duo doing something completely unrelated like getting together to prank Charles or their little siblings.
"Hehe…," giggled Percy and gave her a crushing hug after putting the book down.
Despite being a young adult in the body of a ten year old and having the mentality of a war veteran, Percy was often childish. Especially around his immediate family. He didn't show this naïve happy go lucky attitude to anybody other than his elder siblings and his parents. Say what you will, but being born again and given a new chance brought down the serious emotionally stunted attitude of Percy by quite a bit. In fact rebirth had been a welcome gift to all of them. Even she knew that her personality had changed subtly.
"Alright alright," she pattered Percy on his head. "Now tell me what is going on. And we need to go back because father wanted to see us all after dinner."
"What time is it?"
"A little after lunch. You didn't eat anything didn't you?" she questioned him threateningly.
"Ah… I totally forgot about it. Meh… I just have a double serving for dinner. I'm not that hungry anyway," Percy dismissed his overtly concerned sister.
"Percy… you promised not to skip meals. You know mother's getting a bit worried about you because you disappear down here for the most part of the day. Even father questioned me what you were doing."
Of the three siblings, Percy was seen as an eccentric individual. Charles was considered a genius because of his never before seen skill with numbers. He even had a few inventions out in the public that had vastly improved life in the castle and the Wintertown. She helped her parents and was a regular member of the hunting party ever since her mother gave her permission a year ago. She also went down to the Wintertown to help those who were in need and most of these time she was accompanied by Charles or Percy.
Percy had the least amount of public exposure. He was mostly seen in the training grounds fighting in a manner no northerner or any westrosi for than hatter had ever seen. But she knew it was a mix between the traditional Greek fighting style mixed with aspects of both Atlantean and Roman styles. Other than that he was mostly absent from public view. It was almost as if Charles and Percy had switched their personalities with each other. Percy was highly reserved and had a limited number of people he communicated with familiarity. Those were the people he trusted or respected.
Their mother was worried about Percy's detached behavior from society despite Percy telling her that it was his persona. Albeit Percy's nonchalant dismissal about him missing meals, he knew that if their mother found out that he was in trouble. Not that she would punish him, it was her sad disappointed look that he couldn't stomach.
"Don't worry… I won't be missing meals ever again," he promised. "I found out what I was searching for these past two years. Sister… I know you made fun of me because I spent time down these uninhabited, undocumented parts of our home. But the joke's on you. This finding will help us tremendously. And this wealth… it can be used to fund our little experiments on a larger scale. And it will also provide us with the capital we need to make North independent again."
"You still haven't told me what this room is," she huffed.
"Come here sister," he dragged her to the sunken jade slate. "What do you see when you look into this?"
Zoe looked at it hard despite the out of body feeling she got when she stared at it for a while. Despite looking at it with keen eyes, she could only catch little glimpses of words. She could see that the slate was written in more than three languages with their words jumbling over and the sentences not making sense at all. The pictures and symbols that adorned it gave it an out of the world feeling. She could see direwolves, dragons, chimera, manticores, griffins, wyverns… all sorts of magical creatures within it. All of their eyes gleamed as if they were alive. But she still couldn't understand the purpose of this tablet at all.
"It looks… magical. I don't know what it does… but it… I can't even look at it without feeling dizzy."
"That because you are not supposed to look at it," Percy said as she turned to him. He smiled after seeing her questioning look and gestured to follow him back to the throne.
Zoe didn't properly see it earlier because her eyes were on her brother. Now that she came close to it and observed it she could only gasp in wonder. The throne was made of ice. It was not a regular ice that you could come across in nature… this was almost like it was made of Stygian Ice.
Stygian ice had a deep purple coloration with black markings across it. But the throne was made of an ice that was more bluish. But it had purple and black colorations all over it. She could feel the air hum around the throne with magical potency. The top of the throne was decorated with a snarling direwolf. The backrest, arms and the legs were crafted with such perfection she could see the tiny details that added to its beauty. The throne itself had no cushion of any sort. In that regard it was like the Iron Throne of King's Landing. This was a seat made to signify power. It wasn't there for comfort.
"You didn't think that the Starks ruled the North on that Weirwood Throne in the Great Hall did you sister? This is the throne of the Winter Kings. This is how our family symbol became the direwolf. The throne only the closest vassals knew about. In fact this was the room where all significant meetings regarding the Northern Kingdom were carried out for a long time until it was gently faded into obscurity on purpose."
"But why?" she asked. This throne signified power. Even more so than the Weirwood Throne. Just by being near it made one bow down in deference.
"This seat signifies the power of our family. Nobody outside our blood could ever grace it. In the early days this throne was considered to be a symbol of power... a symbol that the Starks were the magically superior family. An item that a person could lust for their whole life but never obtain. Many a family had tied to force their claim on it. But none succeeded. According to this book King Jorjen Stark decreed to hide this throne to quell the rumors that it was the throne that gave us our powers after the Boltons and several Stark offshoots rose in rebellion. But who know whether this was the original intention or not. You and me both know not to believe everything we read, especially when it comes to history."
"So the throne was moved here? Wonder how they pulled it off," she wondered.
"The book says that the other families believed it to have been destroyed due to infighting within the family during that turmoil. Also most of the people who participated in the uprising were put to the sword. Did you know that there used to be five different branch houses of the Starks? Not the Karstarks or the Greystarks… but others?"
"No. And aren't the Greystarks extinct because they were wiped out during the last Bolton uprising?"
"Yeah… the Greystarks weren't the first Stark branch to rebel and they weren't the first to be wiped out either. I say… we are born to a family with a rather bloody history haven't we?" Percy grinned knowing her distaste on the bloody and barbaric practices the Boltons carried out in the past. She was quite vocal about it.
It was ironical. Zoe had to give him that. The Starks the Westerosians knew were a noble family that was honorable and not bound to conflict. Too bad history never seems to survive orally. Otherwise they would have been painted in the same light as the Martells, the Greyjoys and the most recently the Lannisters. There were so many secrets when it came to the Starks that the history forgot. Even the dusty library or the journals of the past Stark patriarchs didn't paint a clear picture about their family prior to Aegon's conquests.
"You still haven't told me what that was. And where are we for that matter?" Zoe pointed at the slate and asked him..
"That dear sister is the wardstone of Winterfell and you are currently gracing the Nexus of Winterfell."
"Wardstone?"
"Do you remember the feeling e had from our younger days that there was something heavy and otherworldly about the aura around our home?"
"Yes. And you wanted to find out what caused it and headed down to the crypts only to be dragged by our father. I remember him giving you quite the spanking on your tushy tushy and made you promise not to head down there alone. Even mother didn't take your side that time," Zoe giggled reminiscing the incident. No matter how much Percy yelled, their father didn't let go of the punishment.
"I remember," Percy grimaced thinking back on the rather painful experience. It was the first and last time he had ever punished by his parents in this life and the last.
"Come on brother, you can't be still upset about that," Zoe bumped her shoulder on his.
"I know what he did was because he cared about me. It still hurt so much. And I remember you laughing at my predicament," Percy glared at her without any anger. "But back to the topic…The truth is that I never gave up the search. I was more careful to let no one find out my whereabouts. Even now only you and mother know that I come down here. I tried scrying spells, pointing spells… nothing worked. So I started to explore the abandoned parts of the castle because I knew that whatever was causing the phenomena was not within the parts we knew. And after spending all this time in darkness, I found it. This was the thing causing the feeling."
"When did you find it? And most importantly… what does it do?"
"About a month ago."
"And?"
"This is what keeps Winterfell together," Percy said. After seeing Zoe's questioning look he began to further elaborate. "Have you wondered why a castle that was eight thousand years old is mostly fine with no major degradation over time? This here is the key to it. From what I found out this wardstone focuses ambient magic in the air to stop decay over time. It also has various other uses such as transporting hot water through a pipe network inside the walls to keep the castle warm. It also repels unholy creatures from entering the premises."
"Unholy creatures? What are those?" Zoe asked with a blank look. From the tomes she had digested over the years, she knew that there were countless creatures in this world some of which were only figments of imagination on earth. Most of these creatures were only seen and heard in legends of the land. Even she knew not to dismiss those stories as there was a plausible and tangible truth behind the origination of those stories.
"According to this book, they are creatures of darkness and misery… demons of some sort. It's mentioned that they are used as assassins by a cult in Essos. Don't know much about them because even the descriptions are vague."
"What now?" Zoe questioned looking around. This room had much to be catalogued. She knew for a fact that Charles would be thrilled to take a look at those odd glistening weapons. The jewels were not a resource they could openly use. The world worked on gold coin basis. To use these items, they would have to exchange them first and she wasn't even sure she wanted to do that. These items were family treasures. They had been hidden down here for a long time to protect them from undesirables. She wasn't even sure she wanted anybody outside her family down here.
"You know we have to bring father down here," she added.
"I know. That is why I was going through all of these materials. You haven't even seen the half of it. There are so many storage rooms down here. Most of them are empty and we can use them for our purposes. The other rooms… come let me show you something," he said suddenly and dragged Zoe heading to the far edge of the room.
Zoe once again had to marvel the size of the room. Following Percy she could see that this was no man made creation. The room itself was a natural cavern under the castle. Brandon the Builder had utilized it in his design. The rocky walls were mostly comprised of various rocks. She could identify obsidian, amethyst and jade. The werelight that Percy had conjured bounce off these surfaces to give off and ethereal look. She knew for a fact that if they were to mine this cavern, they could obtain a huge amount of wealth as both amethyst and especially jade were considered expensive in this world due to their veins being found in remote inaccessible locations. Jade trade in Essos was a lucrative business.
At the end of the cavern was another doorway. This one didn't have any decorative arch or even a door for that matter. Percy conjured another werelight and strode forward. They entered a winding pathway that snaked in all directions. Temperature started to drop and rise throughout the journey and by the end she could already hear tilling of birds.
She wasn't ready for what came next. The moment she exited the tunnels she was met with one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. They were in a massive underground cavern. Shafts of light streamed down from the top and hit various locations giving a feeling a peace. This cave already had a thriving eco system. Though she didn't see any large animals from her vantage point, she could see trees that were lush and thick.
She had been to Son Doong cave in Vietnam during one incursion with Artemis. That had been one of the most wonderful and relaxing experience she had with Artemis. This cave despite being larger than that, the aesthetics was the same. It had only two entrances. One being the tunnel from which she entered. The other was the massive cave mouth in the far distance. She couldn't formulate words. She just basked in its beauty.
"How?" She finally spoke.
"If you are asking me how this cave came to exist, you know don't have the answer to that. This cave is probably one of the many reasons Brandon Stark built Winterfell here. There are only to entrances to this cave. One is the tunnel behind us, the other is that opening you can spot over there in the distance," he pointed to the large cave mouth.
"Then where are these beams of light coming from?" she pointed to the shafts of light that littered the cave illuminating the otherwise dark cavern. Due to these beams of light she could see fish swimming gracefully in the brooks and ponds that were scattered across the cavern floor. All in all it was a heavenly sight to see. This was a place that time had failed to touch… a pace that had not been disturbed for a long time.
"Well… the cave mouth is made of some sort of crystals. They reflect the light that hit them and what you see is the result of it."
"Percy this is a monumental find!" she grabbed his arm and shook him. They were at a loss to find a place to bring out the creatures that Ananke gifted them. Now they had a space that they raise them provided no one else knew of this place.
"You don't know the half of it. I scouted the place roughly. The cave mouth leads to a valley within the Wolfswood that is bordered by high cliffs. I don't think anyone could ever reach the valley except from air. And it's mostly shielded. So we don't need to worry about the winter. I plan to turn this into one of our bases in the North to raise the Storm Dragons and the Kirai. They can live here without human interference."
"I want to see more of it but we need to head back because it's getting dark outside. We don't need father to organize another hunting party to search for us like the last time. Mother is worried about us as it is. Come let's go. We'll come back with Charles, mother and father tomorrow," she said with reluctance.
"Fine, just let me grab a few stuff. We need to show them to father."
Zoe followed Percy back to the room in which she found him earlier. Once he got there she started to rummage about picking a few items and also the large tome that he had been reading earlier. She had to thank their physical abilities because no other ten year old or even a twenty year old could have handled the book like Percy did otherwise.
She had to admit, Winterfell had many secrets needed to be rediscovered. That cave for an example would have been an ideal place to weather turmoil in the kingdom. Starks were not novices when it came to rebellions. They have put out so many hostile movements throughout the history starting from the Dawn Age that they had lost count and forgotten about them. Entire sections of their history were blank due to wars and turmoil. So it wasn't surprising to see key aspects of their family forgotten over time. For an example she had read that there were many Starks with the ability to warg. Even greenseers weren't uncommon in the family. But nowadays the abilities themselves were considered myths. Even though the Starks nowadays may have the potential to be one, the process and the training procedures were nonexistent. So much had been lost to the sands of time.
She couldn't wait until she was sixteen. It was the age which her father said she could be out in the open roaming the land after the historical argument with him. There was so much the world had to offer. And both she and Percy wanted to see it all. They wanted to roam Avalon.
Avalon… that was the name which she and her brothers had started calling this planet. Westerosians didn't have any concrete information of anything beyond the Slaver's Bay in Essos. But that didn't even cover a quarter of their adjacent continent. Beyond the Slaver's Bay was Assahai and the Shadow Lands, Jade Sea and Yi'Ti, Vas Dothrak and the land beyond the Sea of Poison. So much was unknown. And that was even without considering the mysterious Sothoyros, the land of deserts and forests where mythical creatures were rumored to dwell. They didn't even know the true extent of the Summer Isles. For all they knew the islands themselves could be part of a landmass that was large enough to be considered a continent of its own.
The most frustrating thing to her was the lack of information of the lands beyond the wall. It was so close, yet they didn't even know the true reason why that massive structure was created in the first place. Sure there was the story of the Long Night where undead and creatures that were eerily resembled necromancers invaded the land of the living. But that was eight thousand years ago. Stories tend to deviate from the truth over time as they were exaggerated. She believed there was something beyond the wall that caused the living to unite. But what it was… was up to debate.
So Avalon it was. It denoted the fact that the world was magical and mysterious like the legendary island on Earth… a land which stoked the curiosity of adventurers and opened new paths in life.
Charles sighed as he felt another headache approaching fast.
"Charles, where is your brother and sister?" his father questioned him giving him a hard stare.
"I haven't seen them today, father," he replied evenly.
"What must I do to get those two in line," Rickard sighed.
Charles had to admit. Both Zoe and Percy were always looking for trouble. Zoe sneaked out to the Wolfswood without anyone knowing about it to 'sharpen her skills.' The last time she had done that, she was missing for over a day and their mother was hysterical worrying about her little girl who was in danger. Their father arranged a hunting party to comb the entire forest if he had to. He had not seen his father that agitated ever since he found Percy had sneaked to the crypts when he was only five.
Even he joined the hunting party while Percy was missing as usual. Without his sister there was almost no way of knowing where Percy was during his disappearances. Halfway to the forest they saw his sister coming out as if nothing had happened with a pack of wolves at her heels. She was playing with them while she was returning home at a leisurely pace without a single care.
That had led to the historical standoff between Zoe and their father with neither of them backing down. But in the end he had gotten her word to never do that again as he gave her leave to go out explore when she turned sixteen. Charles had a sinking feeling that his father would not keep his word and would drag that time as long as he could. Even if he did let Zoe go, he was sure that there would be troupe of followers at her heels to keep 'his baby safe.'
Rickard was many things. To his children he would always be the overbearingly loving father that kept a strict eye on them to make sure they weren't harmed in any way.
Thanks to this incident the Winterfell kennels now boasted a full pack of had been funny to see the look on his father's face when Zoe stated that her little friends were not regular wolves but direwolves. The creatures that had not been seen for centuries were now part of the castles day to day activities. It had piled up more duties on him as the wolves seemed to only obey people of the Stark family. They had to keep their regular kennel hands away since the wolves had become aggressive towards them. Today the wolves just roamed about the premises as if they owned the place. The pony sized dogs didn't disturb anybody unless they were provoked. His younger siblings had personal wolves that followed them like puppies. Even his father had taken to the alpha of the pack and the duo was seen mostly together.
Then there was Percy. Percy was like smoke and mirrors. Of the three siblings he was the one who least out in the open. He rarely ventured out of the castle opting to explore the abandoned sections of the castle looking for the same thing he had got him the thorough spanking from their father. He came and went like a ghost. A ghost that was prodigious in combat as he had bested most of the fully grown men under the Stark banner.
Other than that Percy helped him in his little projects and often participated in sword fighting down in the courtyard. But he was always there when they needed him the most.
"Charles dear, why don't you go look for them," his mother Lyarra said.
Lyarra was a striking woman who was kind and at the same time strong. She thought the world about her children and would go to any lengths to protect them. She had been rather mad at their father for punishing Percy for his little misadventure and didn't speak to him until he apologized to her. She even kept their secrets from their father. Even after five children, she was the most beautiful woman in the entire north.
"No need mother, we are here," came Percy's voice as he strode into the room with Zoe at his heels.
Charles smirked as his siblings walked in. They had changed a lot. None of them looked even vaguely similar to the appearance they had in their previous life. All of them now sported the classic Stark looks, but they were only limited to their hair color and body structure.
Charles always wondered why Ananke turned them to elves since they were being reborn in this world. Genetics were what mattered right? You get your traits from your parents. If you were born to human… you couldn't be anything else other than a human. But what he had discounted was the existence of souls. They were born humans with elven souls.
Souls were your imprint on this world. It was like the software that ran a robot. The metal chassis of the robot only housed what truly made it that particular robot. The same could be said about living beings and souls. The souls were what gave meaning to the fleshy body that others perceived.
Vampirism didn't only change your body. It also changed the structure of your soul. That was why no matter how a vampire died, they would be reborn again as a vampire. There was no going back to being humans for them. Until they fade, a converted vampire would be just that... a vampire.
Ananke had to alter their soul to avoid this. So here they were… elven souls within human skins. The problem was that no human body could contain an elven soul. Little by little their bodies were being altered to house their powerful cores. He had calculated that their transformation would be completed by the time they were sixteen. Due to this transformation they were stronger and faster than anybody of the same age. Charles knew for a fact that both he and Percy was only a little bit weaker that their Master-At-Arms. Should they compete in pure brute strength, they would not be at a disadvantage against men who were in their prime.
But what baffled Charles and Percy was the fact that they couldn't hold a candle to their father. The man was known as the massive wolf for a reason. But his strength was just ridiculous. Either he was undergoing the same transformation as them as they had a vague suspicion that he spoke to Ananke since the goddess mentioned that she would give their parents a heads up or the Stark bloodline hid something that they had not identified yet.
Due to this active transformation, his sister was already turning out to be a beauty that the entirety of the Seven Kingdoms would try to win over. His father had declared her to be the Silver rose of Winterfell during her naming. She was turning out to be just that. The entire north was proud to call her one of their own as they boasted about her beauty to the southerners.
"Where were you?" Rickard demanded from his youngest son breaking Charles from his musing.
Percy looked around and saw that there were a couple of servants loitering about the Great Hall.
"Let's go to the family room," he said as he couldn't send these people away. The Great Hall was a place of community. It didn't just belong to the Starks. Anyone from the lords of the north to the poorest commoner was welcome within these walls.
Seeing that his son was serious, Rickard got up and led them out of the room without another word. Charles followed right behind him ignoring the whispering between his siblings and their mother. The three had a weirdly close relationship while Charles was closer to their father than either Zoe or Percy.
"Where are Brandon and Lyanna?" Percy asked their mother.
"They were tired. I gave them an early dinner and put them to sleep," his mother replied.
Charles chucked as he thought about his younger siblings. The birth of him and his siblings were celebrated in the north since this was the first time triplets had grace their family. They were considered a gift from the old gods. But what surprised the entire realm was the birth of his younger siblings. After triplets had graced the Starks, it was followed with the birth of twins. Many commoners considered their house blessed and flocked around them to bask in the 'blessing.' The population of Wintertown had boomed due to this. This was the reason they had to expand the population centre outside the castle. He had taken the opportunity to get his father to completely redesign the settlement to a certain standard. It had cost them money, yes… but this was a long term investment that the Starks could profit from for a long time.
Twins were two years younger than them and they were already a handful. Their father said that the wolfblood in them was strong. Both his sibling seemed to adore Zoe than either he or Percy. May be that was due to the fact that Percy was mostly missing and he was usually busy helping his father. They were already pestering Zoe to teach them to wield weapons. To them Zoe would always be the cool elder sister that helped them in all their matters. Percy was the cold, mysterious, strong yet caring brother and Charles was the caring, strong eldest brother who everybody looked up to due to his genius.
They entered the family room. It was a room that was located in the family wing which they used to get their family together every day before bed to talk about their day. The time they spent in this room together was a bonding moment for all of them. The room was larger than a usual bedroom. It was decorated with Stark heraldry. A fireplace was situated next to the plush seats so that they could have a comfortable time even in the coldest of days.
After everybody walked in Percy closed the door behind them and uttered a whisper. Charles recognized the word as it was meant to silence the room so that even if somebody on the other side the door was to place their ear on the keyhole, they would hear nothing but silence.
"What did you wanted to talk about?" Rickard asked after settling himself comfortably next to their mother.
"This," Percy pulled a massive tome that had been hidden away under a pile of animal hide in the corner. He gave it to his father and started to pull some more items.
Charles ignored his brother and peered at the tome over his father's shoulder since his parents had seated themselves together. The book was filled with runes of First Men. From a cursory glance it was about Brandon the Builder and the time he raised castles and the infamous wall.
"This is the Chronicles of Brandon the Builder… the original book. This is supposed to be lost. The duplicates have all eroded over time. Where did you find this?" their mother asked Percy as their father kept on reading it as if he had struck gold. It wasn't surprising to see their mother know about the origins of the book. She knew about their family history more than their father. He sometimes consulted with her when it came to family matters as he wasn't sure on how to proceed.
"Down in the nexus," Percy replied nonchalantly picking up a wicked looking dagger that was almost the length of his forearm and picking his teeth with it.
"Nexus? Do you mean you found it?" asked their father sharply tearing his eyes away from the book.
"Yes. I suppose you knew about its existence?"
"Of course. All Starks knew about it. But nobody has been able to find it since the time it was sealed during it was sealed when Theon the Hungry Wolf went to Essos to raze Andalos. My father told me that all Stark patriarchs try their luck in finding the room within the abandoned parts f the castle during their tenure as the Lord of the Castle. But none had succeeded. The room is said to contain things that were of importance to our family. Of what… I do not know. Tell me how did you find it?"
"Do you remember the time you punished me for going into the crypts?" Percy asked with a small smile.
"Very distinctly," Rickard said while looking a bit sheepish at the glare his wife directed at him. Even Charles had to crack a grin. It was not every day you saw the fearsome Perseus Jackson reduced to a screaming and crying mess. He secretly cheered his father on as he punished his brother. It was not out of spite, but out of concern. They had not even been in this world for five years and Percy was up to his usual habit of disregarding danger. He knew that this world had untold perils that they were not familiar with as they had read some gruesome details about wraiths and other spectral creatures in the library.
But the incident had caused Percy to view their father in a much different light. Unlike Poseidon who let his children get away with anything, Rickard was the sort of man who would stoop down to punishing them for their own safety. This action had raised the respect the two brothers had for their father. It also caused Percy to be sneakier in his little misadventures as he knew that being caught equated to an appropriate punishment.
"I don't believe I told you why I went down there," Percy began. "You do know that magic exists right?" he questioned his father.
Rickard looked a bit uncomfortable in talking about something that he, Wyman and Rowan had tried hard to hide. "I know that it exists," he admitted slowly not wanting to lie or divert the subject.
"The truth is that all three of us are sensitive to magic and can use it," Percy dropped the bomb that they had been postponing for quite a while.
"Percy!" Zoe harshly whispered at her brother grabbing him by his ear.
"Ow..Ow… Zoe we have to tell them sooner or later. This is the perfect time to bring our parents into the know since we have already decided to go ahead with our plans," Percy placate his sister.
"What do you mean? I thought we were going to implement them once we found a pace that nobody could find. Otherwise it would do more harm than good if the King and his army come knocking down at our doors," Charles frowned.
They had wanted to implement some of the plans they had designed for some time. The first and foremost thing they had in mind was to bring out the eggs and hatch their familiars. But the problem was that there were eyes and ears everywhere. They needed a secluded location to bring out the gift that Lady Ananke bestowed upon them as the creatures needed a safe place to grow until maturity. If by any chance the Mad King got ears about the amazing flying creatures of the North, their family would be routed as they were not ready to face the world yet. There were families like the Boltons who were waiting for one slip up to become the Lords of the North.
Charles knew that his father had plans for the upcoming storm. He wasn't privy to their details but he could identify patterns. The Starks, Maderlys and the Reeds were up to something. Already his father was recruiting talented people from all around North and even from Essos. He knew that their father would fill them in when they were ready. So he waited patiently as he would be the one that would rise to the place of their father in the future.
"He already found a place," sighed Zoe.
"Ah," he exclaimed as he knew that Percy would go ahead with the plans with or without them as he was tired of just sitting around. That was about the only habit Percy had with his previous life. He was impatient. Be that the wolfblood in him that their father said or the instincts that he gained by being related to the sea he didn't know, but he knew Percy was an impatient man who would never sit back doing nothing when he could be doing something proactive.
"Zoe, let your brother go. And Perseus start explaining," his father commanded.
"Fine," Percy said as he glared at Zoe. "The thing is for a long time we felt this feeling of unnaturalness that lingered throughout the castle. I wanted to find the root of it. But Charles and Zoe dismissed it because they believed it to be something natural. My first step was to go through all the sections we currently inhabit. But when I couldn't find anything I went down into the crypts and we all know what happened after that. But that tour wasn't without any fruits because I found out that the feeling was rather muffled down in the crypts. And that only left me with the uninhabited areas."
Percy got up and brought a roll of paper that had been lying with the items he took out. "This is the layout of Winterfell. I added everything I found out in my ventures to the layout that I found out in the library. The deeper I went into the castle more and more secret rooms I found. Most of these rooms were hidden behind magic," Percy said as he unrolled the paper.
Charles had to admit that he was impressed. This was two years worth of work on Percy's part. The main reason why uninhabited parts weren't used was because it was built in a way that one would completely lose his sense of direction. It was easy to get lost down there. Luckily these areas were mostly underground otherwise a massive chunk of the castle proper would have been abandoned.
Charles could see three levels of the castle underground. They only knew and used about a quarter of the first level. The other two levels were below these areas and spanned a larger expanse. Some of the areas even spread further than the limits of Wintertown. The core region of this underground network was designed in a way that was similar to the Pentagon on Earth. The lowest level had a central chamber in the empty part of the pentagon while the layers above them were empty as if it was designed to provide extra security to the central chamber so that it couldn't be breached from the layer above.
It was impressive to see a structure that were eight millennia old still holding itself without damage. There was so much space down there that they could fit the entire population of the North and still have room to spare.
"This is the Nexus," Percy pointed at the central chamber on the third layer.
"How did you navigate this labyrinth without getting lost? Percy I told you not to o anything stupid. What would have happened if you had gotten lost down there? Do you think how much your mother would get hurt?" Lyarra asked passionately from her son.
"Mom, I know I promised to stay safe. I did stay safe. And you don't have to worry. There was a confusion curse set in the tunnels so that any explore would get lost. I just altered it so that it wouldn't affect me," Percy said as he hugged his mother with one arm.
"You said you could do magic?" their father questioned them with a steely gaze. It was the same gaze he had when he was extremely serious. But you could see the subtle hint of pride in his eyes. It was Percy who he was worried the most as he was the only child that didn't fear him openly. Even Charles was scared of angering his father.
"Yes," Charles replied for Percy.
The three had a long conversation on what they could and couldn't reveal to their families almost a year ago. It was done so that they could all be on the same page on matters at hand. One thing they vehemently agreed on was to never mention anything about their previous life. It was their past and it was a past that none of them wanted to look back on. Right now they were given blank slates and it was this slate they wanted to fill without interference from the previous slate.
Magic was something they had to reveal to their parents eventually. The three could already sense the presence of magic within them. They had the ability to learn and eventually when they were comfortable with the idea, they wanted to teach them so that they could get out of dangerous situations should neither three of them were there to help.
'Fire erupt on my hand without burning it,' Charles said loud and clear and watched amazement fill their parents faces as a ball of fire erupted on his hand. The flames rose to about a foot in height and he waved his hand showing that he was in control of the fire and it didn't harm him.
"Magic," their mother whispered. "When? How?"
"We don't know," Zoe replied sticking to their preplanned explanation. "From our younger days we had an instinctive ability to use it. We experimented with it to find out what we could do. Don't worry… we didn't do anything dangerous. I kept these two knuckleheads from going overboard. But we knew magic was frowned upon. It was not seen after the death of the dragons. So we kept it quiet until we were sure we could control it perfectly."
"What was that thing you said earlier in a strange language?" their father asked.
"That dad, is the Language of Truth. We don't know its true name, so we have started to call it Avalonian. It is the language of the forces of nature and it controls all things that we see. So by speaking it and infusing it with our own power we can do 'magic,'" Zoe explained.
"There's more to it than that, but yes... basically if anybody with the ability to do magic was to speak the language with intent, they could do what they wanted to provided they are powerful enough though I believe those who have a strong willpower would be able to steer magic to do what they want. It would take a long time to see results though. The language makes magic instantaneous and easier to manage," Percy said.
"But obviously there are rules we must adhere to when using it. Otherwise we could die from magical exhaustion or blow up due to power build up," Charles added.
"So all three of you could do this?" their father asked.
"Yes," Charles replied.
"Getting back to the topic, I discovered the Nexus almost a month ago. I've been reading on what I found down there. Mostly they are firsthand accounts of our family. There are also a few things that I think you would find interesting." Grinning at their questioning looks he elaborated, "I found a book how to train as a warg."
"That would help the Reeds a lot," their father blurted and looked sheepish as he had inadvertently revealed something he should have not. Their mother gave him a glare and turned to her children.
"Really you found a way to train as a warg?" his mother asked excitedly as the prospect of seeing through the eyes of a bird was something he knew she had always wanted. His mother like Zoe, Percy and the twins were free spirits. They didn't like to be constrained. They belonged out in the open. It was why they were close to each other. He on the other hand valued order and systematic approach. That was why he and his father were close as they both valued this trait.
"That's not all, he also found the Winter Throne," Zoe said casually.
"Aww Zoeee… you took my limelight away," Percy complained immediately.
"WHAT!?" his father on the other hand had jumped up and almost lifted Percy up by his collars. "You mean to tell me that the greatest artifact of the Northern Realm was sitting right beneath our feet this whole time?"
"Yeah…?" Percy replied slowly.
"This changes everything," Charles heard his father mutter as he started to pace and run his hands on his beard and hair.
The three siblings looked at each other in question as they didn't know what had set their father off.
"Rickard!" his mother exclaimed. "Calm yourself. You are acting strange in front of our children."
"Sorry," he said calming himself down. But Charles could see his mind formulating plan after plan after Percy's grand revelation.
The true symbol of Stark's power was not the bronze crown that the Targaryens spirited away. It was this legendary throne of ice that denoted their power. It was an artifact that was said to have been here, in this very location where the mighty castle of Winterfell was erected even before the arrival of the First Men during the Dawn Age. It was a precursor item that proved Westeros had a civilization long before the human advent. And that civilization didn't belong to the Children. What happened to them and who they were was lost over the turning of time.
Charles knew the throne was destroyed many years ago. He knew it because it was the duty of the Stark Patriarch to teach his heir about some of this sensitive information. This throne was the sole reason for rivers of blood since there was a myth amongst the nobles that whoever possessed it had the legitimacy to rule the North.
"Let's come back to that later," his father spoke. "Tell me what you meant by 'your plans'?"
This was the tricky part. They didn't want to divulge many of the things that Ananke had said to them. This world was not ready for paradigm shifting revelations. So they had to ease most of their new inventions slowly into the society since most of the common folk were highly superstitious. It would only take a perfectly placed rumor to get the commoners o rally against the Starks.
"You're up," Percy grinned at him throwing him under the bus. He found it highly amusing to push him forward and make him the face of their operation just because he was born first. Even Zoe who was older than him participated in this practice.
Charles sighed, thinking of the times he was back at Hephaestus Cabin. At least there his siblings were either afraid of him or were obedient enough that he could order them about because of respect. That didn't work with his new siblings. Both of them were wild as the wind. They did as they wished. And he was always left behind to deal with the aftermath. Even his youngest siblings were like that. He thought that only he amongst all his siblings thought about his actions before committing to them.
"Charles," his father broke him out of his thoughts. "I know there are things you don't want to tell us. We know… you were given to us by the Old Gods. You were sent here to this world to start anew. I do not know whether you remember your past lives. I suspect that you do as no other ten year old could do a tenth of the things you could do. You are smarter than most of the people I know. And I certainly don't want you to open up about your past lives until you are ready. I just want you to know that you can trust us. The five people in this room…we are family. I don't want there to be secrets between us. So if you are hesitating because of some reason let me tell you my side of story first."
Charles, Zoe and Percy listened to their father's little speech with wide eyes. They always made sure that they were not caught doing things inappropriate to their age. And they had a vague feeling that their father had talked to the 'Old Gods', since Ananke said that she would give their parents a heads up. Of what the goddess or her underling revealed, they were not sure. Their parents had never mentioned anything about the Old Gods or anything regarding to their birth until now. So they were not sure on how to approach some of the subjects that they wanted to talk with their parents. That was the reason that the three siblings kept quiet even when Charles could have saved his father a lot of effort in his grand scheme for the North.
So their father started to tell them the tale about how he met with an Old God. He told them how the alternate future in which they weren't born could have gone. Zoe had tears in her eyes when she heard about the details pertaining to his death. He and Percy gritted his teeth loudly when he heard of the gruesome details of the fate of their family. Even their mother who had apparently known about this encounter shed tears about the destiny of her family.
His father explained that his children, 'his gifts' as he called them would change this future and free the Northern Kingdom once again. The reason why he had become agitated after hearing about Percy's discovery was because a part of the prophecy like sentence had come true. They had found the throne of winter. They had found a symbol for the Northerners to rally behind.
He then went to detail about how he was building a platform for them to make their destiny come true. Charles knew for a fact that Silena was born to the Manderly family. Though they had yet to meet he was extremely happy that their father had betrothed the two of them weeks after their birth. It had been a puzzle to the three why he had done so right after their birth. It couldn't be a coincident right? It was one of the things that made the three suspect that his father had some sort of communication. Now everything was becoming clear.
The Manderlys, Reeds were with his father and they were planning for a change… a change that would one day define the entire North.
Charles listened as his father explained how he was actively stopping the spread of the Septs and how he was squashing their influence. He also revealed all that he had done in the past ten years including how the Reeds were monitoring every bit of information to how the Maderlys were providing a barrier to the North along with importing foreign talent. How they were looking into ways to increase the food production in the North. Currently they were importing from Braavos since he didn't want to go back to being dependent on the Southerners.
When he had done explaining the room became quiet. The preparations were almost finished. Their father was slowly implementing his plans and now they had an opportunity to fine tune them and make adjustments with the advanced knowledge they had with them. Charles already had a few ideas on how to improve upon his father's ideas.
Zoe and Percy nodded their head slightly and that was the signal of their approval to give their parents a basic run down of what they had in mind.
"Thank you for telling us this father," he began. To outsiders it must have looked strange for a ten year old to speak with an adult as if they were peers. But within this room were people they could trust and depend. So he decided to go for it.
"The thing is father, we have storm dragon eggs with us and we want to hatch them."
"You have dragons?" his mother interrupted.
"Storm Dragons," he clarified. "Not the kind the Targaryens bred. Even we do not know the full extent of their abilities. Also we have another species with us that have the ability to fly. But we'll come back to that later. The dragons would need at least a year to reach maturity before we could reveal them. As Percy had found a safe location for them to grow, we will start hatching them. Percy will be in charge of this process."
"Also we need more information," Zoe added.
"Yes, the library of Winterfell may contain a vast collection of books. But there are books that we don't own yet. For that we must find ways to obtain copies. I suggest raiding the Night's Watch or the Citadel. These are the only two locations that have a larger horde of books than Winterfell. There is also the need to establish a printing press."
"A printing press?" his father questioned.
"It's a machine that helps us to copy and mass produce books at a rapid pace. I will show you how it works later. We need the commoners to be able to read at least. No kingdom will prosper if their populous is backwards. I must thank you for bringing all those talented children under your wing. They will be the first of the trained scholars we need in various positions in our command structure."
"Charles, I think you better head down to the forge and teach the blacksmiths on how to improve the craft. But you must get them to act discreet," Percy added.
"Improve metalwork?" their father interrupted again in wonder.
"Yes father. You may not know it, but Charles here is a genius when it comes to the forge. He could create cheaper yet stronger steels the like you have never seen before," Percy said with a smirk.
"For that we need to change the forge design and create a whole new system," Charles clarified. "But yes, I can do that. But back to information… We can' raid the Citadel right now. The Night's Watch keep their information closed as well. "
"I may have a solution for that," his father said. "The Night's Watch is currently limited to three castles along the wall. What you don't know is that most of the equipment on the other castles that couldn't be used in active combat was left when the castles were abandoned in hopes that they could one day reuse their establishments. We could discreetly raid those castles and obtain what we want."
"Yes, that could work. We'll leave that to you father. In the meantime I could go take a look at the Citadel when things have calmed down. Who knows what those old cronies have managed to hide in that tower of theirs'," Percy said with a smirk. "Don't worry mother. I won't leave just yet. There is much to be done here," he added as he saw the look on his mother's face.
"We also need an order like the maesters that are loyal to our family. Let me finish," Zoe said as she saw the look in their father's face. "This order would exist to create new things and explore new ventures of knowledge, and yes that may include arcane studies. That is why we must make them loyal to our house and only our house. Your recruits will be perfect in establishing it. Maybe we could make it like a college."
"That's a great idea. The college would be open to all northerners willing to learn the higher subjects offered in it. Yes… this could work. We will provide them with a salary and will add benefits with each new thing they discover," Charles agreed. "This will also create the platform to train the people we need for various positions."
"I think we should have a permanent army as well," Percy being the most militant added his thoughts. "We can base them off the Romans or the Atlantians. This will provide us with an edge in ground combat. Then again we need a permanent base for the army. As large as Winterfell is, we can't base everything in one location."
"True… but we need to go step by step. We have time on out hand and all we need is the keep the southerners out of our business. Father's actions will help us in that regard," Zoe agreed.
"We also need a new navy. Our land is large and we need a strong naval presence to keep foreigners out of our shores. The best location to build it is the Sea Dragon Point on the West Coast. The Manderlys can start building smaller ships in the Eastern coast until we can establish a naval dock somewhere in the East," said Percy looking thoughtful. "I think I can come up with some ship designs."
"Your ship designs would put up as the dominant naval power," said Charles with a chuckle. He knew that Percy was abnormally talented in maritime engineering. His designs would prove to be too advanced for this technologically backwards world.
"If we want to do that then we have to create a new harbor and a keep at Sea Dragon Point. The location seemed to be uninhabited… Mormonts are loyal to our family right? We can obtain their help and get them in the loop like the Reeds and Manderlys. The new harbor will help them as well because it till provide protection to their home," Charles said looking thoughtful.
"What about food?" Zoe asked. "We can't keep importing food from outside. We need a stable source of food."
"I have already thought about that. I heard that Braavos had a similar grain to rice they import form Yi'Ti. We can plant that near the neck," said Percy.
"Yes, and maybe corn and wheat could be cultivated in the Rills. That region is mostly uninhabited. We can use the land as large farms. Potatoes and other yams are another option for other places," Charles agreed.
"Also we can make glasshouses as well to produce fruits, herbs and other necessities," Zoe said and Charles agreed. He knew the basic workings on how to make glass and that knowledge could be utilized here. Glass being one of the luxuries of the world could also be exported to gain a healthy income.
While the three were tossing ideas off of each other their parent looked at their eldest children with visible pride on their faces. They remained quiet glancing at each other now and then and smiling as plans for the future started to unveil before their eyes. They too had plans. They had discussed about them countless times before committing to them. But these plans the triplets were going on about… they were far larger in scale and much grander than their measly ideas.
If they had thought about the things their children were discussing while they were in similar discussion with Wyman and Rowan, all parties would have scrapped them due to them being unrealistic. But here they were listening to the most unrealistic plans they could ever imagine. But the difference was that their children had the confidence in all of them. None of the plans they made seemed farfetched to them.
Rickard was just happy that the ten years he had been gathering talented individuals and skilled laborers was going to see results right before his eyes. He was also glad that the 'little birds' and spies were all but wiped out within the vicinity of Winterfell Even the problem with the maester was dealt with beautifully. For all they knew maester Walys was alive and working at Winterfell. Even his actions against the Faith were bearing fruits. The Seven were almost nonexistent and there was a boom in the followers of the Old Gods.
While his three eldest were talking he decided to interfere and ask one question that everything they talked about would depend.
"Charles… tell me where you are going to find money for all of this? I have some money saved up but it won't be enough to do more than half of what you want to do. If you want to establish a new settlement at Sea Dragon Point, that money would not suffice at all."
"That won't be a problem dad," said Percy with his usual smirk. "You see… down in the lower levels of the castle, there are store rooms. Store rooms where our ancestors have horded quite a wealth if you'd asked me. Our ancestors have mined and horded gold for quite a while without the knowledge of people outside the family. It seemed like the Starks weren't the wasting types that history makes us to be. Don't worry. That money is more than enough to do everything we have in mind and more. Even if it wasn't there it's not too hard to gather gold in the ground though magic. You just need a little more time."
"Yes father. We had our initial hopes on gathering the necessary gold through magic. Now that Percy had found the Stark horde, we don't have to worry at all," confirmed Zoe.
"What else is down there?" Rickard asked curiously.
"Gems, jewels, various heirlooms and other valuables. Also there's a shit ton of weapons down there. Here Charles what do you make out of this," Percy tossed him the dagger he picked his teeth with.
Charles looked at the craftsmanship keenly and assessed the weapon with an eye that spoke of experience. Rickard and Lyarra couldn't see much of the weapon, but its ominous black glint told them that it was of an exceptional make and probably cost a lot to make.
"Looks like Stygian steel… but yet it's not. Have to do a few tests to make sure. Was this from storage as well?"
"Yeah… though there are not a lot of weapons of that steel. Whatever it was it is hard to make. Others are similar to this," he said pointing to a great sword he brought from below.
"I need to go there to take a look," Charles said finally,
"I'm coming as well. Tomorrow after the morning session in the Great Hall, we will go down there to take a look for ourselves. And I want to see what you kinds are planning down there," Rickard added with a smile.
"Well… that's for tomorrow. Now we have to go for dinner. And Percy, I know you missed lunch. So don't try to weasel yourself out of a large diner young man. Your mother is going to force feed you tonight."
"Aww man," Percy complained as his family erupted in laughter at his expense.
What do you think? Don't forget to review.
Till next time.
fadedaura out.
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