Sword in the Darkness

Chapter One

The North - Stark Camp

Elia was very pregnant, from what she could tell she had about a month left, maybe a little more, and she and Robb were both very excited, but both were also very worried about having a baby during war, and having the baby in the camp that the war was raging around. Robb continuously begged Elia to stay in the castles that they visited on their journey south, but she refused every time, saying that they were married, and their fates were tied. If he died, she wanted to be there, not hundreds of leagues away, wondering if he was okay.

Robb was stressed. They hadn't yet lost a battle, due to Elia's army, and her superior and unusual battle methods, that Tywin had never encountered before. And, just like Elia refusing to stay at some random lord's castle, Robb refused to leave Jaime Lannister with someone else, someone who could sell him back to the Lannisters, without making him and his family pay for what they had done, and that was why, for the first time since they had captured him, Robb was going to talk to the prisoner.

"King in the North. I keep expecting you to leave me in one castle or another for safekeeping, but you drag me along from camp to camp. Have you grown fond of me, Stark? Is that it? Or is it your wife? Sorry to say but I'm a happily married man." Robb scowled down at the dirty, shit-covered man who was tied to a post in the middle of a cage, surrounded by his shit, and the shit of the other men from the northern army, as they had all been told they could throw it at him if they so wished.

"If I left you with one of my bannermen, your father would know within a fortnight, and my bannerman would receive a raven with a message, 'Release my son and you'll be rich beyond your dreams. Refuse and your house will be destroyed, root and stem.'" Jaime smirked up at the boy turned King.

"You don't trust the loyalty of the men following you into battle?"

"Oh, I trust them with my life. Just not with yours."

"Smart boy." Jaime watched with a smirk as Robb's eyes became slits as the King glared down at him.

"What's wrong? Don't like being called 'boy'? Insulted?" Instead of replying, Robb simply looked back behind Jaime's head, and Jaime nervously strained to look around the large pole he was tied to, only to freeze as the large grey wolf that Robb has so cleverly named Grey Wind stalked around the cage to Robb's side, and only stopped advancing towards Jaime when Robb gripped the fur on his back. The wolf was huge. Its shoulders reaching up past the man's hips, and Robb was not a short man.

"You insult yourself, my Lord of Lannister. You've been defeated by a boy. You're held captive by a boy. Perhaps you'll be killed by a boy." Jaime looked up at Robb anxiously, as he loosened his grip on the wolf's fur and he took a predatory step forward, but Robb stopped him yet again, before continuing with insulting the man.

"Stannis Baratheon sent ravens to all the high lords of Westeros. King Trentan Baratheon is neither a true king nor a true Baratheon. He's your bastard son." Jaime felt the anger engulf him. How dare he?

"That is not true. I have never betrayed my wife. If he is a bastard, then he is not mine." Robb hesitated for a moment, and almost looked like he believed him, but he just turned his head to look out over his camp and then looked back at Jaime, who was still fuming.

"It is a convenient thing for Stannis to claim. But, why would he claim he's yours? Why not just say he's a bastard? Unless there is some truth to the matter. Unless you did have an affair with your sister."

"When we were young... and foolish... things happen. But I love your aunt. And I am a loyal man. When I heard that I was engaged to Arya... I stopped it. And then I sent her off to Dragonstone, and I hadn't spoken to her until we began traveling to meet you and your family. If those children are not Robert's then I don't know whose they are. But they aren't mine."