Sword in the Darkness

Chapter Four

Camp - Four Days Later

"And? What did she say?" Robb asked Ser Alton Lannister from his seat in the main tent. He was holding her hand as Elia sat beside him, and most of the Lords were staring at us. Which makes sense, we had been having a very public dispute that ended with Lady Talisa, and Tyene had been forced from camp, and the couple getting back together. 

"She admired your spirit, Your Grace." Ser Alton said cautiously, looking around at all the much larger men around him. 

"And what then?" Robb prompted, and Ser Alton balked. 

"She, uh..." Robb chuckled and straightened slightly. 

"If every man were held accountable for the actions of every distant relative, Ser Alton, we'd all hang." Ser Alton sighed, before finally saying what he needed to say. 

"She tore the paper in half, Your Grace." Robb nodded, but he did not look happy. 

"You've acted with honor. I thank you for it. Lord Karstark, see that Ser Alton's pen is clean. And give him a hot supper." Robb said, turning to look at Elia so he could say something to her, but Lord Karstark cut him off. 

"Ser Alton's pen is occupied, Your Grace. The prisoners from the Yellow Fork. Too many prisoners." Robb sighed and turned to look at the Lord who looked very irritated. 

"Is there room for Ser Alton?" Robb questioned calmly, trying not to let it bother him. 

"Does he need to lie down?" Robb sighed, pinching the skin between his eyebrows in frustration. 

"Have the men build him a new pen. Put him in with the Kingslayer for now. Have your boy watch over them." Robb declared, and Lord Karstark grudgingly agreed, leading the man out of the tent. 

Once the others had filed out of the tent, Robb turned to his wife with a small smile on his face, as he lifted her hand to his lips and laid a gentle kiss to her knuckles, trying to not let the worry over the war overcome him. 

"Your Majesty!" Elia heard from outside the tent where she was playing with little Ned. Robb had left for the Crag, and she was left with the camp, where she was in charge with Lady Catelyn to help. 

Elia rushed out the tent flaps with Ned in her arms, to find a large group of men gathered outside the tent. Lady Catelyn was near the front of the group with her new guard, a woman she had picked up when she was with Lord Renly. 

The Kingslayer had escaped the night after Robb left, and Elia was hoping they had called for her to tell her they had caught him. 

"No farther." The large woman was saying to the angry mob of men as Elia approached, but she needn't have bothered, because as soon as they saw her they began to speak. 

"They caught the Kingslayer." One of the men at the front said, and it was then that Elia noticed that there was a scuffle going on further back into the mob, and she decided to make her way there. 

"Make a hole!" Elia cried as she plowed through, with Lady Catelyn behind her, and the woman pushing through to in front of her, shoving people out of her way. Elia could hear men yelling as she approached, 'Kill the Kingslayer!' 'Hang him!' 'You'll die today!' and it made her steps quicken. 

What Elia found at the center made her tense. The Kingslayer was covered in blood, and being held by several men who all had their weapons drawn. 

"Get back! I want his head!" Elia heard the loud roar before she saw Lord Karstark barreling through the men to get to the Kingslayer. When he finally breached the circle around the man, he turned to look at the soldiers, he drew his weapon but when he looked back at the Kingslayer, Elia was standing between him and the Lannister. Elia looked at Ned, who was being held by Catelyn, before she turned her attention to the raging Lord and hoped that wouldn't be the last time she saw her baby.

"Any many who stands between a father and his vengeance asks for death." Lord Karstark growled, and Elia straightened up, regretting that she had not grabbed her weapons. 

"Lord Karstark, this man is our prisoner." Elia growled out, and she realized that everything had gone quiet as the men stared at the exchange. 

"This monster killed my son." Karstark growled. 

"And crippled my brother-in-law. He will answer for his crimes, I promise you, but not here." Elia said strongly, but Karstark did not hear. 

"I will have his head. And if you try to stop me..." Karstark trailed off menacingly. 

"You will strike me down? Have you forgotten to whom you speak? I am your Queen! I am the Mother of your future King, and I am a Princess of Dorne! The General of Dorne!" She roared, and most of the men flinched back at the anger in her tone, but it seemed to only make Karstark more angry. 

"And where is our King now?" Elia scoffed. 

"You know very well. He has gone to the Crag to accept the surrender." Elia spat, but Karstark just smirked. 

"Aye, gone to the Crag, but not to negotiate. He brought that foreign bitch with him." Elia scoffed, but she could feel her heart sputter at his words. Was that true? Did Robb lie to her? 

"How dare you?" She spat, but before anything else could be said, the large woman stepped in front of her, her hand placed firmly on her weapon. 

"Threatening the Queen is an act of treason." She said severely, and it was like everyone nearby froze. They all knew treason only had one punishment. Death. 

"Treason? How can it be treason to kill Lannisters?" Karstark roared, and before Elia could answer, Catelyn stepped in. 

"I understand your grief, My Lord... better than most I understand it. But in the name of my son, the King in the North, stand down." Catelyn was strong, that Elia could not deny. But Elia wished she would have let her handle it herself. To prove that she was strong as well. 

"When your son returns, I will demand this murderer's head." Karstark growled at Catelyn, who rose her eyebrows at him. 

"Wise men do not make demands of Kings." 

"Fathers who love their sons, do. I will have his head." Karstark roared before he turned and left the circle of men. Elia turned to Catelyn, but before she could speak, Jaime did. 

"Thank you for fighting on my behalf, Lady Stark, Your Majesty. I would have come to your defense, but..." Jaime trailed off with a shrug and a smirk, and Catelyn turned away from him, heading off back to the tent without a word, holding Ned in her hands. 

"Take him to the stockades. Bin him in every chain you can find!" Elia ordered irritably as she followed Lady Catelyn. 

"You've become a real she-wolf Princess! Not much snake left in you. " Jaime called. 

"And gag him!" 

Hey guys! So I am going to be trying to get back into writing my books! And to do this, I am going to try and update one chapter for each of my books tonight, and I am going to start trying to do something new:

Whichever book has the most reads on the chapter I update today (the last chapter of the book), will be the book that I update tomorrow. And the next day I'll update the book with the most reads on the last chapter, and the next day and the next and so on. So, if you want your book to be update, make sure you are reading it!!

Love,

M