The Crippled Wolf: Stark SI (GOT)

Chapter 18

CREGAN STARK

Ever since the morning had begun, Cregan had been feeling rather ominous. It was as if he knew that something was wrong. Or rather, something was going to go wrong.

Yet he did not know what. He had woken up early, and for once his sleep was not disturbed by the nightmares of the three eyed raven, much to his surprise.

The nightmares had been taking a toll on him for months now. Ever since he had stepped foot in the North they had plagued his dreams, growing more and more intense with every passing day as they warned him to stay away.

Not that he had listened to them.

Thankfully, his habbit of waking up early had stuck with him, and he was just in time to stop Brandon from reaching the top of the broken tower, knowing full well what such a thing would entail.

He did not care for the three eyed raven or his warnings, and cared little for his plans. Cregan had decided to save his family, and Bran was one of them. He was not going to abandon him to a cripple's life.

And so, he had rushed into the backyard as soon as he had woken up, only to find his little brother climbing up the wall of the broken tower, and he was a good climber. Better than any he had seen.

The rest was easy. He had talked him down with a mixture of threats and promises, not that their mother would ever let him join the hunt. But his brother was down, and safe.

It was all that mattered.

And then they had broken their fast, and the ominous feeling had only grown despite his little triumph, and he was surprised at Sansa's preception of Joffrey, on how his words had taken their effect.

She had always been smart, knowing full well how to play her little games with the ladies and so forth. But it seems he had poisoned the well when it came to Joffrey, and given that she knew all of his tales of valor and bravery to be nothing more than lies, the little prick was unable to impress her.

It was another victory for him. Joffrey had been Sansa's biggest weakness, someone who made her blind to the games and plots that were hatched around her.

And though she was no master of the great game, he was relieved to see her using her mind.

And then had come the hunt, and Cregan could do little but participate in it given the King's command. As always he had tried to scout out the hunting grounds through his powers, had tried to warg into a crow, or any other bird to see the game around the area.

And yet for the first time in many years, Cregan had failed.

His powers of warging, the one's he had been using and trying to master ever since he had first awakened them had failed him. He tried again, and again and yet failed.

His connection to his direwolf was still there, he could still feel Aurora but any other animal, bird or otherwise, he could not warg into. It was a surprise. An ominous surprise.

And that should have been warning enough. It should have been, but his little succeses had blinded him, and now he found himself gripping his shoulder as he lay there on the ground as a smiling Joffrey pointed his cross bow at him.

He had been shot once already, and the pain from the fall and the arrow were making his head spin, while the world around him was dyed red because of the blood that was running down his face.

"What are you doing, my Prince?" he grunted as Joffrey smirked.

"Teaching you barbarian a lesson," he raged as he smiled down at him. And Cregan tried again, and again, and again to warg into the prick's horse, and that failed.

His own horse had long run away after Joffrey's little ploy made it throw Cregan off. His cane, with his blade was a few paces from him, and yet it would do him no good.

"I don't understand, my prince," Cregan tried to buy time, hoping that something would give.

"Don't play coy with me! I know all about your plans, you cripple," he spoke as he focused the crossbow straight at him, and incompetent as he was, it did not matter here, given that Cregan was but a few meters away from him.

"You thought you could take my place. Replace me! You barbarian cripple! You thought you could marry Myrcella, and become the king you bastard!" he thundered, and he knew that this idiot was not smart enough to think of this.

Someone had fed it to him. These were not Joffrey's words.

"I don't know what you are talking about, my prince. These words, they are lies!" and he screamed in agony as the bastard loosened another bolt at him, this one pierced his leg, making him scream.

"HELP!" and he saw Joffrey's face pale as he realized that he did not have much time.

"You dare call her a liar! Call my mother a liar!" he screamed as Cregan fought through the pain, screaming as Joffrey jumped down his horse and reached for his sword.

"But don't worry, I will make it quic...." and then it happened in the blink of an eye, as a dozen men came upon them in an instant.

"Who are you?" Joffrey asked as Cregan looked around and saw them surround both of them.

"Now what do we have here, two little princelings trying to kill each other," a gruff looking man with an axe in his hands spoke up, as Cregan broke the arrow, and tried to push himself back up.

"Leave me! I am the Prince! Move!" Joffrey shouted and, in his idiocy, chose to swing his blade at one of them; the man raised his own, trying to block the attack, yet in the last moment, Joffrey's feet slipped, and Cregan watched as the bastard's head hit the edge of the axe.

FWISH!

And split open in the blink of an eye, showering them all with blood.

"SHIT!" "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!" "I DID NOTHING!"

"THE BASTARD SLIPPED!"

They turned on one another as Joffrey's body fell down into a pool of blood as Cregan watched it all with a thumping heart, unable to understand what was going on.

"He was the Prince you idiot! They will kill us all!" the leader of the men shouted as he pointed at Joffrey, as they all paled and began to fidget before the killer's eyes turned towards him.

"We will just blame it all on him! Tell 'em it was him who killed the boy!" he suggested, and for hired killers, the bastard had made a good suggestion, but Cregan had enough time to reach for his cane as he stood up shakily, his sole connection with his direwolf growing stronger and stronger.

'He had to buy time,' he thought.

"Let's get him! And after we have that money, we will put it all on this bastard and leave him in a ditch somewhere!" the leader shouted as one of them rushed towards him, and Cregan quickly twisted the handle of his cane and pulled out the blade.

'Money' he heard. Mney it could mean only...but this was all for later, as he swung his blade at the hand reaching for his neck.

"AHHHH!" and the man reaching for him screamed as his hand fell down. His arm bled as they looked at him with renewed interest.

"What!" he screamed as they all took out their weapons, hatchets and axes and spears. And pointed them all at him.

"Who hired you?" he asked, even as his body seared with pain.

"What it matter to you! You are comin' with us boy!" the leader shouted as he pushed his spear.

"I am not," Cregan shook his head, praying that someone would come to his aid. That someone had heard his screams.

"You think you can take us all!" and as his back hit the bark of the tree, the men closed in before suddenly they halted as Aurora pushed herself through them and stood infront of him, baring her fang at them all.

"A wolf!" "We don't have much time!" they whispered as Aurora barked at them, and yet they pushed their spears, cutting them and swung their blades until they were all stilled by a scream.

"HELPPP!" and all of them looked to the side, and his heart stilled as he saw just who it was.

"Myrcella..." he gasped as he recognized those golden locks. As their eyes met, he screamed based on instincts only.

"RUN!" she ran, and the men realized the danger.

"Chase after her!" and one of them did, as the others all jumped on him. Cregan killed one and took another's arm as a spear pierced his injured leg once more.

"AHHH!" he screamed and watched as Myrcella turned around, the man chasing her now but a few steps away, and as his vision began to falter, he gave a single tug at his thread with his direwolf as he screamed.

"DON'T LOOK BACK!" and he slipped and fell to the ground, and before he could utter any other word, he felt something hit his head as his vision darkened and he fell to the ground, and the last thing he saw was the bleeding lifeless body of Joffrey Baratheon.

0000

EDDARD STARK

They rode through the forest with haste, as the men spread out in search for the Prince and his son. He rode with Robert, as Eddard tried to ease his mind, tried to assure himself that all was fine.

Yet it was a lie. He knew it in his heart.

Something was amiss here. And suddenly both him and Robert stilled as they heard a scream.

"NOOO!" and it was closer to them, as they both turned their horses and followed after the voice.

"That voice," Robert began with a gasp, as Eddard nodded recognising it as well.

"It was Lannister," he added as Robert nodded, and a few minutes later, they saw him as well.

The Kingslayer sat there on the ground sobbing as he held a boy's body in his arms. His face and hair were now dyed red as blood gushed out of his split skull, and yet even with them colored, it was hard to mistake that doublet as anything else but Lannister.

"No," he gasped as he saw Robert's face pale. The Kingslayer sat there holding the body in his arms, and Robert jumped down his horse.

"No! NO! It cannot be!" his friend and King gasped in worry as he looked towards the Kingslayer.

"It cannot be!" his friend screamed in grief, and yet even the King's words could do little to change the reality.

"Joffrey! Joffrey!" Robert screamed, and yet the boy was dead. His body was limp, and the boy did not move as Eddard turned his eyes to look around before his eyes landed on something rather familiar.

"Who did this? WHO!" Robert thundered as the Kingslayer stood up while Eddard picked up the cane and saw that it was indeed Cregan's cane. His son's cane.

He was here in a well, and beside it lay a blade that was thin and long, one that could be fixed inside it. It was bloodied, speaking of a battle, and there were a few broken arrows lying around as well, with much blood beside them.

There was a battle here.

"Ask him?" The Kingslayer's words broke him out of his trance as he roared to his feet.

"What do you mean?" Robert thundered, his rage palpable as he looked around.

"That blade and cane. They are his son's and he was the only one who rode with Joffrey!" he added, and he was stilled as he saw those green eyes fill with rage.

"Do you have any idea what you are saying Kingslayer!" Robert thundered, but Jamie Lannister was not listening as he glared at him hatefully.

"He hated him. He always hated Joffrey, and now he has killed him! Killed him and run away that coward! But I will find hi..."

"My son did not kill the Prince!" Ned halted him in his words as he pushed forward staring the Kingslayer in the face.

"Why would he kill the Prince?" WHY?" he asked, his own heart growing weary with worry as Robert watched his son's dead body with a pale face.

"You know why! But I will find the boy. I will find him, and kil..." the Kingslayer threatened, and Eddard's blood boiled as soon as he heard those words—the daring of this man to threaten his son while he stood in his lands.

He saw the Kingslayer reach for his blade, and he did the same.

"You dare threaten a Stark while standing on my plan...."

"Keep your blade sheathed, Lannister!" Robert screamed in agony, and as the Kingslayer tried to argue.

"Your son! The Prince is dead, killed by that boy, and yet you..."

"SILENCE!" Robert thundered as he reached down, and they both turned towards their King, whose face was filled with the fury and rage that had once made him King.

"Mind of what you speak, you idiot! You dare accuse Ned's son of this. Have you lost your mind!" he roared, and the Kingslayer seemed to back down as Robert turned to the gathered men.

"GO! FIND ME THE BOY! FIND HIM AND BRING HIM TO ME!" he roared, as he moved towards his own horse and mounted it.

"I will take his body to the castle," and Ned joined his friend as he rode beside him.

"Cregan did not do this," he added, and Robert's eyes were filled with tears as he nodded.

"I know, but only the boy knows who did. And I will kill them, whoever did this...."

"I WILL KILL THEM MYSELF!" he thundered as he looked at his son's remains.

0000

Hours passed, and Cersei waited with bated breath for any news about her daughter. As per her command, the Lannister guards searched the forest while the Starks and their men searched the castle and the town around it.

Winterfell was massive, and its lengths and widths had never been felt lengthier and wider than today as she waited for any kind of word on her daughter.

And it was hours later that she heard it. The sound of hoofs coming from the forest as she rounded off and ran forward.

"Myrcella," she gasped in worry, hoping to see a guard with her, and yet as she ran into the forest and saw the rider coming towards her, she stilled.

And yet it was not. Her prayers had not been answered, for it was neither her nor Jamie. No. It was Robert who rode back, though her eyes did not linger on her husband for long as they reached the lifeless body in his arms as she stilled and felt her world end.

"NO!" she gasped, as she fell to her knees as she recognized that face and those golden locks so similar to her own, all covered in blood.

"NOOOOO!" she screamed as Robert's horse stopped, and she ran towards him and held the face of her son, which was split into half while his skin had long cold.

"JOFFREY!"

0000

Read ahead and support me on Patre 0n. Help me write this and other such stories by becoming a Patr 0n. It would be pretty awesome of you and would mean a lot to me.

www.patre 0n.com/Drkest

Have a nice day!