A Dragon In Wolf's Clothing ~A Game of Thrones fan fiction~

Chapter Seventy Four: Have Mercy

Battle planning seemed to go quicker than any of them wanted it to. Their tactics seemed almost simple as soon as they put their theories to the test on the great table, and Lyanna couldn't help sitting there in dread as she moved certain pieces representing the Starks or the Boltons, knowing that if they made one small error during the real thing the next morning, that could be it for all of them.

Every alternative had been planned, and so the command team of Tormund, Ser Davos and Cassius took their leave, leaving just Sansa, Jon and Lyanna. The three each took different positions, Jon pacing up and down by the table, Sansa stood over in the corner, Lyanna sat by the war table, fiddling with one of the Stark pieces.

The nerves of the next day had gotten to her, her stomach in knots, her entire body becoming numb. What if this was it? Her end? The end of House Stark? It seemed wrong, almost dirty to think of House Stark being wiped out so simply, as if it was just a smudge on a history book, but yet it was a possibility. The battle of the next day would be something people would talk about for years, it would become the thing of legends. The Battle of the Bastards, they were calling it due to each Commander of the battle starting out as a Snow, would be something Bards would write songs about. Their songs could be the new Rains of Castamere, though the dreaded fate of House Castamere laid between the Starks and the Boltons.

"Lyanna," Sansa called, snapping her back into reality. "Tell him! Tell him that it's not enough! He doesn't know Ramsay like I do!"

"Jon..." Lyanna began, standing up to more closer to her siblings, clenching her forehead together, her head aching from exhaustion taking its toll. "Sansa has a point, she lived with him, she has an insight into what he's like,"

Jon looked between the two girls, both so different in appearance but similar in experience. He saw them as the same in that moment; two young girls making the best out of the circumstances they were thrown into, two young girls who'd almost been destroyed, but had come back seeking vengeance. Jon may have not always trusted Sansa's judgement when it came to the subject of the battle, but he did trust Lyanna, and so he sighed, knowing that whatever either of them were to say, they would be right.

"You're right," he sighed, moving to sit down across the table, whilst Lyanna remained stood by Sansa's side.

"You think he's going to fall into your trap, he won't, he's the one who lays traps," Sansa spoke, and behind her eyes Lyanna could see all of the suffering and pain that had enforced Sansa's judgement. "Ramsay is overconfident, he plays with people! He's far better at it than either of you, he's been doing this his whole life!"

"Aye, and what have we been doing?" Jon stood again, almost as if he was offended.

"Jon," it was Lyanna's turn to sigh, calling his name as if it was a warning, knowing that whatever he was to say could result in an argument.

"Well what have we been doing, playing with broomsticks?" he continued, glancing at Lyanna as if to make her take his side. "I've fought beyond the Wall with worse than Ramsay Bolton, I've defended the Wall from worse than Ramsay Bolton! The same goes for Lyanna!"

"I know what Lyanna has done, I saw her fight the Lannister soldiers that killed father's men in King's Landing, she even attempted to take on the Hound, but yet you still don't know him!" Sansa raised her voice, and even though the two were using her name to fight their own perspectives, Lyanna felt so isolated from their argument.

"Tell us then," Jon gestured for her to carry on speaking, and Lyanna took a seat again. "Tell us what we should do, how do we get Rickon back?"

At the mention of their brother, Lyanna felt her heart sink. It was pure stupid optimism for Jon to think that their brother would survive this situation. Lyanna knew that, and from one glance to her sister, she could tell Sansa knew it too. When Lyanna looked at her sister, she remembered the way she'd plead for their father's life to be spared, for his 'crimes' to be pardoned, and then she remembered the cruel way Ned Stark had died, all whilst Joffrey grinned as if he was watching his favourite Jester. Sansa knowing that pleading for someone's life was pointless, and that was when Lyanna realised her little sister had really grown up.