Chapter 7: Rickard Stark and his ambitions
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[The tenth month of year 259 AC]
[On some point on Kingsroad]
Rickard Stark, the son of Lord Edwyle Stark and the Warden of The North, was heading his five hundred men his father gave him to support the campaign against the Band of Nine that the king launched under the leadership of Lord Ormund Baratheon. After receiving the king's word a month ago sent to him by Lord Hand, Ormund Baratheon, Edwyle could only send his one and only son Rickard Stark to represent the North in the next war after asking some of the other lords in the North to send some me with his son.
Riding by Rickard's side was Lord Eddard Dustin, the younger brother of Lord Dustin. Lord Dustin sent his brother to go south with Rickard since it was an order from his Lord, Edwyle Stark. The Lords of the North did not like it when they got involved in the matter of the south since they saw themselves as different people from the southerners who were good at scheming against each other. The northerners saw themselves as honest people who did not like to decorate their words with honey words to trap each other. Not only did they have different gods, but the southerners did not witness what was beyond the wall, so how could they call themselves anything but different people.
"What do you think about this war, Lord Dustin?" Said Rickard with a smile as he looked at Eddard Dustin. He was different from the other Lords in the North and had thoughts to make some friends in the south. Lord Rickard had his ambitions and intended to play the game with the southern lords. Rickard thought that this war in the south could be a good thing for the North if he managed to create alliances with some lords from the south. That would help him, especially when they needed rations with low prices. If he succeeded in his plans in this war, that might help severe the North's dependency on the Riverlands and the Tully for their food.
"It is not our war, Lord Stark. The damn Targaryens are only using us to fight their war. Who are the Blackfyres? Are not they the bastards of the Targaryen? So why do we have to wipe the Targaryen's shit for them? If they wanted to fuck a whore outside, they should take responsibility for their actions. They did not have dragons anymore. I don't know why are we still listening to those incestuous bastards?" Said Eddard Dustin with disgust in his eyes as he kicked his horse. He did not like those southern idiots who always schemed against each other and could not even wipe their shit properly. As for the Targaryens, he hated them to the core because of their actions. If king Torrhen fucking Stark did not bend the knee to those bastards, the North would still have his freedom. Although he knew in his heart that the North would have got damaged if king Torrhen fought, he could not accept it, especially since the Targaryen did not have their dragons anymore.
Rickard looked at the Dustin in front of him and could only sigh since he knew he would receive this reply. Eddard Dustin had the same view as the other lords in the North, who refused to change after all this time. They did not like strangers and would rather kill them than talk with them. They knew that the North could not live without the south, especially in this winter, but they still refused to listen. But he saw a great opportunity in the south this time. That was why he asked his father to send him south as the representative and insisted on doing so. Although Lord Edwyle and his wife disagreed and nearly fought with Rickard since he was their only heir, they agreed in the end after seeing their son's insistence. Both the father and mother Starks did not have the same ambitions as Rickard and preferred to live in their quiet castle in the North.
At least, they had Brandon Stark, the one-and-a-half-year-old boy, who could inherit their place if anything happened to Rickard in this war and died because of his recklessness. They would have to wait for the young Brandon to grow up, though, before he could inherit Winterfell.
"Lord Dustin, can't you see that most of our food comes from the south, and we have to depend on house Tully every time when we buy our food? You know that the conditions in our beloved North are harsh and are not suitable to grow enough crops or raise enough food for us, right? That is why we have to depend on the south, or we will starve. I don't care about the Targaryens, really, since they are just nonsense and foreigners in Westeros. We only need to have a good relationship with the other kingdoms where we could ship out food to White Harbor instead of depending on the Tully, and this is our chance to do that." Said Rickard with a gleam in his eyes as he looked at the sky. Dustin could see the seed of ambition in his liege's eyes and could not help but shake his head after seeing that. He knew well enough that most of their food came from the south or by the hands of those hunters who risk their lives every winter to feed their families. He knew that they lost men every winter because of the weather conditions in the North but dealing with the southern lords was idiotic in his eyes since they would betray their lord on the first occasion if they saw any benefit in doing that.
"As you see, my lord." Said Eddard Dustin as he shook his head. Since his lord believed in something like that, what could he say anymore? Plus, Eddard was not Lord Dustin anyway. He would leave the matter to his brother if he wanted to say anything to stop his liege from doing what he wanted.
After hearing Eddard's reply, Rickard knew that Eddard did not believe any word he said and might have thought that Rickard was digging his own grave by doing something like that. But he would prove to everyone that he was right in doing that, and he would save the North from the upcoming winter. Rickard did not know that he would gain Dustin's hatred by doing something like that.
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[The tenth month of year 259 AC]
[In the Eyrie]
The Warden of the East, Jon Arryn, assembled five hundred knights of the Vale and led them himself as they crossed the bloody gate on their way to the Kingsroad.