The Battle of the Bastards: Part 2

A/N: Hello everyone. I apologize for the longest hiatus between chapters yet. Long story short, as if November and Black Friday preparations weren't busy enough, I ended up needing to undergo a very painful, unexpected, and invasive surgery so I have been on the mend for while now. And yeah, it sucked but even though I am not 100% yet, I have really itching to write more, so, here is the next chapter on the list.

Thank you for your patience and I hope you like it.

Epigraph:

I am being chased. Your friends from the Xenedar I suspect. I believe they're still lost, following a false trail I left for them on the island of Ibb.

Brienne of Tarth stared and stared from her hidden position near the tunnel entrance, her eyes widening at the sight before her.

She had encountered several strange and magical things since the War of the Five Kings started. She saw Renly Baratheon slain by Shadow Magic, taking the form of his elder brother. She had seen evidence that the king she now served was brought back from the grave. She saw an Ice Dragon emerge from the Riverlands' skies and decimate a Lannister-Frey army. And she had seen more than one example of warging might.

But somehow, witnessing the results of that ritual was more surprising to her than anything else on that scale that she had seen. She shook her head.

"Turning all the enemy horses against their riders and throwing them off by the thousands?" She thought to herself, her mind reeling. "That magical tactic could be absolutely game-changing in the wars to come, assuming it's not that complicated to repeat what's needed to make it work."

Eventually, however, she shook her head. The tide of the battle was turning at that moment, with her own army pressing the advantage against their thousands of enemies that suddenly found themselves disoriented and on the ground. So, she turned once more to look at the tent where their skinchanging allies reported that Rickon Stark was being held, near the back of the Bolton army. And she noticed they were panicking as well but on their case, due to the bites they had gotten from snake after snake that the elderly warg was turning against them.

Nodding to herself once, the highborn from House Tarth realized that she wasn't going to get a better opportunity to make her move than at this chaotic moment so, she looked at the snowbear familiar of Josera Snow that was waiting in the tunnel behind her and pointed at the tent. The southerner warrior wasn't sure how the huge beast understood but she imagined it had something to do with his bond with the bastard of House Forrester. Whatever the reason, she gave space to the pale white creature and the fierce animal climbed out of the tunnel to follow her to the open ground behind enemy lines.

Brienne took a deep breath and unsheathed the Valyrian Steel blade she had named Oathkeeper. Then, she ran towards the tent as fast as she could, with Frostclaw roaring as he marched right beside her.

Jon waited a moment for Lord Baelish to compose himself to the sight of him astride an actual Ice Dragon. He almost raised an eyebrow when noticing that it didn't take the old friend of his sister's mother long at all to suppress the expression of surprise on his face; just a couple of seconds at most.

"This is an experienced player," The King of the North and the Trident remarked silently. "I have to remember that."

"So...the rumors are true," Littefinger said slowly as he stared at his mighty mount. "I must admit, I wasn't entirely sure I believed them until just now."

The secret god shrugged. "Well, seeing is believing, I suppose."

"Indeed," The former Master of Coin acknowledged.

He paused for a moment, examining Jon with his eyes up and down instead of focusing mainly on his dragon. Then, as if making up his mind about something, the current Lord of Harrenhal and regent of the Eyrie bowed his head deeply.

"The Knights of the Vale wanted to fight for your brother and predecessor, King Robb, but my late wife decided to put her lands and people first during the War of the Five Kings," He remarked, speaking loudly for all to hear. "Commendable to a point but, unfortunately, her inaction cost the realm in many ways, especially the people that suffered dearly under Lannister rule. And I know I am not alone when I say that the Vale is sick and tired of following those arrogant lions. Which is why we answered your sister Sansa's call for aid against the Bolton usurpers. After all, the North is not the only place that remembers and Ned Stark was a great, cherished friend of the Vale. Am I right?"

Firm words of agreement echoed across the outskirts of the Wolfswood and Jon's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Oh, he is good," He thought. "From what Sansa had told me, most of the Knights of the Vale only followed Littlefinger's orders because they were duty-bound to do so by law, not because they actually liked him. But now that he giving them the opportunity to go fight for me as Robb's heir and invoking my father's memory and history with the Vale, none of them dare contradict him and realize they would look bad if they do. I guess I will have to watch out for signs of manipulation from him, especially as long as he stays in the North."

Fortunately, the young king had thought of a plan to manipulate the ambitious man in a way that would go a long way towards consolidating Jon's own power in the Riverlands by giving Littefinger something he wanted dearly, thereby ensuring that the Lord of Harrenhal could concentrate his talents into a way that could serve the cause of the new King of the Trident while keeping him so busy he would not have too much time to scheme against his new ruler; should that be in his agenda.

But all of that could wait for the time being. Right now he had more pressing issues to focus on. "I am very pleased to hear that. And I am most honored to have the backing of the mighty Knights of the Vale, as my father once had." Jon assured them. "As such, I can assure you that your aid to House Stark in this dark period will NOT be forgotten" He stressed. "But right now, we need to hurry. I have it on good authority that Ramsay Bolton and his forces arrived recently at the outskirts of Ironrath, which means the battle could start at any moment; if it hasn't already," The secret god told them, while keeping to himself the fact that he now knew for sure that the battle had actually started a few minutes ago, due to the exact wording of his last wish that took them to their current location in an instant.

At that moment, Jon saw a grey-haired man dismount from his horse, probably since he couldn't convince the animal to get any closer to his dragon, and approached himself. The knight was clearly a seasoned veteran from the way he carried himself and Jon frowned when he realized he had seen him before at some point.

Then, he turned to look at the sigil that was left standing beside the horse. The banner showed black iron studs on bronze, bordered with ancient runes of the First Men.

That was when a memory from before he joined the Night's Watch came to him and Jon's eyes widened in dawning realization.

"Ah, Lord Royce. Must have been...what, seven years since your last visit to Winterfell?" Jon said with a nod of respect as he greeted one of the most powerful Lords of the Vale and an old friend of his late father. "It is a pleasure to see you again."

"Sounds about right," He said gruffly before bowing his own head. "And likewise. As it happens, I have a few important questions I would like to ask you about the recent conflicts Beyond the Wall, your Grace. The rumors and reports by raven are growing too big to dismiss out of hand. So, please tell me, what are your orders for the nearby battle, King Jon? Because the sooner we break the power of the treacherous Boltons, the better for all of us," The experienced knight added, his tone eager.

"Ah, right," The former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch thought grimly. "His youngest son, Waymar, was the last ranger that we know of that was killed by a White Walker before I arrived at Castle Black for the first time. But we didn't realize that until long after Maester Aemond sent a raven with news of his ****, so Lord Yohn must now be wondering if the stories about the return of the White Walkers are true...and what it could imply for the corpse of his son that we never found."

Sighing briefly, he gave the Lord of Runestone a look of understanding before addressing the army of his allies.

"Brave Knights of the Vale," The King of the North and the Trident called out as the riders stared at him with the utmost attention. "If you would stand besides House Stark and its allies at this crucial moment, then hear my words. We are very close to Ironrath now so if the battle has already begun, I want you to attack from the south. That way we can smash the Bolton forces from two fronts. And since I will be able to arrive a bit faster than you upon the wings of my dragon, I will do my best to punch a hole through their lines with frostflame until you arrive."

"But know this, if any enemy soldiers decide to surrender before you, I don't want you to slay them anyway," He clarified. "The North has already suffered more than enough in the last few years. So, I have no desire for this civil war to drain our strength any more than absolutely necessary. And besides, any smallfolk bannermen that surrender will have a new liege to report to once I am done with the Lords that have sided with the Boltons," He explained.

Lord Royce and Lord Baelish exchanged a look for a moment before nodding at the same time. Jon raised an eyebrow at that, as he had a feeling those two were not usually in agreement so quickly. Then, the regent of the Eyrie turned back to him.

"The king has spoken," Littlefinger proclaimed. "Let's us remind Westeros of the might of the Knights of the Vale!"

His bannermen roared in agreement and they started turning their horses towards the path into the Wolfswood. Jon nodded at that as he watched them charge into battle before urging his mighty she-dragon to take flight.

"That went well," Arya finally said as they started soaring above the forest. "I am surprised he said nothing to me though."

Jon frowned from his position. "Baelish you mean? Why would you expect him to? Is there something I should know?"

"Well..." His sister said slowly, "back when I was on the run after father's execution, I was captured and taken to Harrenhal before I managed to escape with the help of the Faceless man that would later train me. They didn't recognize me. In fact, I ended up becoming Tywin Lannister's cupbearer. But one day, Littlefinger came to give a report and did look like he recognize me. But he said nothing at the time, not to me and certainly not to Tywin, or else he would have sent me back to King's Landing immediately," She explained.

"Huh," Jon muttered, thinking. "Curious. That would have been early into the War of the Five Kings, so Lord Baelish would have still been serving the crown at the time as a member of the Small Council. Well, at least openly."

"I know," Arya remarked. "That's why I have always wondered why he said nothing, even though Tywin would probably have rewarded him for the information. And he wouldn't have even needed to rise from the table to expose me to Lord Tywin. We were all right there in the room."

"I guess we will have to ask him later," Jon replied as he scratched his chin. "Hmph, this is why I don't like political intrigue. He made a choice to save you as well as Sansa from the clutches of the Lannisters, and that is not something I can forget. Between that and actually coming to our aid with an army against the Lannister's wishes, it would be wrong not to reward him somehow. And yet, I can't shake the feeling that I shouldn't trust him."

"That does complicate things," His sister responded in agreement. "What do you intend to do?"

"Eventually? Probably reward him in such a way that he can channel his talents for a constructive purpose that will ultimately benefit me a lot more than it will do him," The King of the North and the Trident admitted. "But manipulations aside, I feel like I should probably keep a close eye on him even while he is enjoying the details of his reward. He may really have a soft spot for the children of his old friend Catelyn, as Sansa said but even if he is on our side now, Lord Baelish has been handsomely rewarded for his services to the Lannister regime in the past. And he still betrayed them. So, I can't help but wonder if he would do the same to us, given the chance."

Then Jon shook his head before Arya could ask him for more details about his plans. "But that's a problem for another time. Right now, our bannermen could use our help. And I will be damned if Ramsay gets anywhere near Sansa before we get there."

And with that, Jon focused on the mental bond he forged between his Ice Dragon and him, urging her to go even faster.

Well, I was originally going to add a couple more scenes for this one but I decided I have been keeping you hanging for long enough already. And besides, I am still on the mend so rest is important. But stay tuned, I already know exactly how I wanted to take care of the second half of the chapter so it shouldn't take more than a couple of days this time, unless Christmas celebrations end up consuming much of my time.

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and as always, I would really appreciate some reviews. Just, maybe don't make them particularly funny this time, lol. I still can't laugh deeply without it hurting.

Anyway, until next time!