Thorkell I

Hinata XIV==============================​

The journey to Riverrun ended up being a long one. Hinata employed every single trick she knew to outwit their pursuers, including having four summoned hawks actively hunting down every bird that appeared in the group's general direction. Paying special attention for any white pigeons that might appear.

But even with Hinata's Byakugan making it easy to avoid any possible guards, patrols or even the general population, Lord Stark preferred to keep the group outside the main roads. So they traveled through the forests with three summoned warhorses for the Starks while Hinata jumped from tree to tree.

Food was not a problem; between Hinata's eyes and the summons they had an easy time hunting. At night they would camp in caves or under the trees, many times having to improvise beds and something to protect themselves from the occasional rainfall.

Lady Sansa fell sick during the first week when they had to face two days of constant rain. But she was made healthy again with a quick application of green energy, something she was thankful for since she had the most trouble with their lack of resources.

The peace between Lady Sansa and Lady Arya continued, mostly because Lord Stark now had an eye on then at all times. They had a few meaningless discussions almost every day but the focuse on getting back home seemed to keep the two sisters from their rivalry.

One day in particular Hinata finally taught the Starks how to pronounce her name correctly. The three were actually surprised it took her so long to correct them but it was just that she never felt that it was the correct time to do it until that point. They seemed to think this had been silly of her, but the young Hyuuga thought that she was just trying to be polite.

During the trip Lord Stark told them what had happen back at King's Landing after they escaped. Apparently, Lord Petyr Baelish betrayed him and made sure that the City's Watch supported Joffrey, forcing the Stark's guards to defend themselves alone. Lord Stark fought as hard as he could but Ser Suzaku had prioritized his capture and he was quickly overpowered by the knight and the other guards.

Arya asked about Syrio Forel and Lord Stark told her that when he last saw him, the Braavosi had killed almost a dozen guards including Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard. Lord Stark did not know what had happened to him after that, but he told Arya as kindly as he could not to hold great hope for the dancing master. Not even the servants of the Stark household were spared by the Lannisters after all.

The younger Stark daughter was saddened by this news. But she did not shed any tears, as she had probably been expecting it. Lord Stark tried to cheer her up by telling her that the Braavosi fought bravely. It did not seem to do the trick.

Fortunately something happened a few days later that cheered Arya up quite a bit. Hinata had been expecting this, and in fact was actively contributing to it, but had kept quiet. She wanted to surprise the young girl.

It happened on the second week of travel. Hinata had been in a cheerful mood all day. When about half their day's travel was done she abruptly leapt down from the tree she was in and signaled for Arya to get down from her horse and follow her. The younger girl was confused, but followed without complaint. Sansa was also confused but Hinata had warned Lord Stark and he only gave the girl a small smile.

They walked for a bit before Hinata got down on her knees. With a smile on her lips, she pointed out to the distance. Arya looked, confused at first, but when she saw what Hinata was pointed at her eyes widened.

There were two dire wolves in the bushes. One of them had her head up and was looking directly at Arya.

''N-Nymeria?'' The girl asked in a voice full of hope.

Upon hearing this, the dire wolf immediately ran towards her mistress, tail swinging with joy. Nymeria practically threw Arya to the ground while she licked her face and the Stark girl embraced her pet while laughing and crying tears of joy.

Hinata watched the scene with a smile before mentally calling her own dire wolf. She put one hand on the creature's head as if to thank her, and then unsummoned it. She wondered, not for the first time, what happened to the creatures she unsummoned, but decided that it was better not to think about it. She still was not completely sure if the creatures were even alive to begin with.

After Nymeria joined them Arya regained much of her good humor and the others seemed to follow. Lady, Sansa's dire wolf, was especially happy to have her sister back. The two wolves often separated from the group to hunt by themselves.

The special moment also allowed for Hinata to make a new connection to that forest. And it was not the only time she did this: during their trip Hinata managed to make three new connections, putting her at twelve lands, eight green and four white.

Whenever they set camp, Hinata also tested out the new power she had discovered while fighting Suzaku. If she concentrated green energy into her physical attacks she could greatly increase her own strength. The first time she tested this she ended up knocking down a tree with a single palm strike. Something that made Lord Stark and his daughters look at her with wide eyes, much to the Hyuuga's embarrassment.

Other than that the whole journey to Riverrun ended up being uneventful. Any time they wandered even remotely close to a Lannister scout Hinata's hawks or her eyes alerted them ahead of time so they could make a quick detour. In the end it took around a month to get to Riverrun. They would have arrived more quickly if not for their avoidance of the main roads. After all the warhorses could only go so fast while crossing forests and other difficult terrains.

However, the movement of Lannister's troops increased considerably in the last days of the journey. They were forced to take a lot of detours to not come face to face with them. After some days Lord Stark, who seemed to suspect something was wrong, asked Hinata to send one of the hawks ahead of them to check on Riverrun.

Much to their frustration it turned out that the Lannisters were laying siege to the castle of Riverrun. Their army was divided in three camps, something they had to do because the rivers that crossed the great castle forced them to it, but they had a force of almost thirteen thousand men.

Lord Stark was understandably worried and decided that they had to set camp early. They spent a whole day discussing what to do while Hinata gathered as much information as she could with her summons.

That night, however, the initiative was taken from them.

First the northern Lannister camp was attacked by what was clearly Stark soldiers lead by a man wearing a black fish as his sigil. Upon being told this Lord Stark immediately recognized the man as Ser Brynden Tully, Lady's Stark uncle.

The Lannisters were taken completely by surprise and the Stark forces were winning the battle easily in the north camp. Lannister men from the other camps, roused by the noise, soon attempted to come to the aid of their comrades. They tried to cross the river in rafts but the Tullys' forces at Riverrun, as soon as they took notice of the attack, bombarded them with rocks and arrows, flipping and sinking then.

Hinata described everything as she saw it with her Byakugan, enchanted with green energy to see further than normal, while the three Starks listened with nervous expressions. Lord Stark was the only one asking questions. What was the state of the troops? What were the sigils of the commanders? Most of all, did she recognize anybody?

She knew who the last question referred to, but it was some time before Hinata found him.

The Lannister north camp was almost completely defeated when she saw Stark men coming from the other side of the river.

''There is a new force approaching.'' She said, calling the Stark's attention. ''I think that they… yes, they will attack the Lannister camp between the two rivers!''

Lord Stark nodded, recognizing the strategy as a good one. The Lannisters were caught by surprise and were more focused on trying to cross the river than defending their camps. ''How many?''

''I think there are around…'' Hinata stopped when she saw something that made her eyes grow wide.

Lord Stark noticed. ''What happened?''

''Lord Robb is leading the cavalry charge against the middle camp!'' She said. He had let his beard grow, so she almost did not recognize Lord's Stark first-born but the dire wolf by his side was an easy give away.

Lord Stark, Lady Sansa and Lady Arya were already nervous as it was, but this new piece of information made them even more tense.

Lord Stark was quick to recover. ''Send your hawks to disturb any enemy that gets too close to my son!'' He ordered her in the tone of a war commander.

''Y-yes!'' Hinata said, making her hawks fly low enough to protect Lord Robb. Then she noticed something. ''Ah! The Lannisters on the middle camp are preparing a shieldwall!''

''Dammit,'' Lord Stark cursed. ''Send one of the hawks to disturb the one giving the orders to the shieldwall and…''

''Wait!'' She interrupted him. ''The soldiers inside Riverrun are preparing… Yes! They are putting down the bridge, they will leave of the castle and charge at the camp between rivers from the rear!''

Lord Stark remained silent and focused. But by the look in his eyes he seemed to approve of this development. Arya and Sansa were suddenly much more enthusiastic.

As Hinata predicted, the Lannister central camp was attacked on two sides. She ended up sacrificing one of her hawks to attack the one commanding the mess in the central camp just to further deteriorate the situation, but the other three were kept close to Lord Robb for protection.

It was unnecessary. Lord Robb had a strong guard around him and he himself was a skilled fighter. His dire wolf also did not leave his side and killed a dozen men by the end of it.

When it became clear that the battle was lost, the eastern camp of the Lannister force, roughly two thousand spearmen and as many bowmen, started to retreat. Before they could escape unmolested, one of the Lannister's sellswords companies, lead by what Hinata thought was a Tyroshi, switched sides. The Lannister eastern camp still managed to escape but in the end the battle had been an overwhelming victory to the Starks and Tullys.

As soon as it was clear that the battle was over Arya and Sansa started to jump in joy in celebration. Lord Stark for his part seemed to be in equal parts relieved his son had survived and also proud at his Robb's victory against the Lannisters.

================================================

None of the group could sleep after the battle, so they travelled during the night. It was already morning when they reached Riverrun. A Tully scout fond then on the way there and, as soon as he saw the two dire wolves, so much like Robb's, he realized who they were.

When Lord Stark presented himself the Tully guard was still shocked, but he led then towards the castle, not questioning how they had manage to escape and come all the way here. Although his curiosity was obvious.

On the way to the castle they were forced to pass by the remains of the Lannister camp. There were still many corpses being collected and the devastation was great so Lord Stark told his daughters to not look at it. But it was, for the most part, impossible to avoid. Both girls had wide eyes while the passed by the piles of bodies that were put together by the Tullys for later burial.

Hinata felt a bit sick at the sight of this. She had seen dead bodies before, even bodies of people killed violently. But there were almost eight thousand bodies from last night's battle around the three Lannisters camps.

Aside from some mercenaries the great majority of the soldiers of Westeros seemed to be common folk; farmers, carpenters and other men who were forced to fight when their lords called for them, leaving their families behind.

Here, looking at the piles of bodies of so many soldiers, Hinata started to understand Suzaku's viewpoint better. She already knew, intellectually, that war was horrible for many people but now that she was actually seeing it… well, she could not help but feel guilty at all of this, even if this war was inevitable in the end.

And all because Cersei and Jaime Lannister had an affair. It was truly sad, almost comically so, that so many people had already died and even more still would because of the whims of two people born into nobility.

Hinata's reflections were put to hold when they got closer to the castle. Some of the north soldiers on the way recognized Lord Stark and were quick to join the group, one of them going to the castle first to announce their arrival.

When they arrived at the central plaza of the great castle, in front of the entrance of the keep, Lord Stark and his daughters had barely dismounted when people started to pour out.

The first was a great dire wolf, Grey Wind, who quick ran towards Nymeria and Lady. The wolves played for a bit before Grey Wind came to welcome Lord Stark, Sansa, Arya and even Hinata.

They were so distracted by the dire wolf that they almost did not saw the next person to arrive at the gate.

''Ned?'' Lady Catelyn Stark stood with a hand leaning on the massive door at the entrance of the keep. Her eyes were wide as she looked at her husband and her voice was full of disbelief, as if the image in front of her was cruel illusion created by some sadistic god.

Lord Stark smiled but Sansa and Arya were quicker:

''Mother!'' The two girls cried as one and ran to embrace their mother.

Lady Stark got down on her knees and hugged her daughters with such strength that it seemed she wanted to never let them go ever again. ''Oh, my girls…'' she said, her face already shaking while tears fell down. ''I though… Gods I feared that I would never see you again…''

Lord Stark chose this moment to approach, embrace his wife, and gave her a kiss in the lips.

At this moment a disbelieved Robb arrived at the door, quickly being jumped on by Sansa and Arya.

''What?'' He said, smiling but confused. ''How did you…''

He stopped talking when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw that it was his father's, who was looking at him with a smile full of pride.

''Look at you.'' He said to his son. ''Fifteen years old and already you led the entire north to a victory in battle.'' Lord Stark squeezed his shoulder with more force. ''I am so proud of you Robb.''

Lord Robb seemed like he wanted to cry of joy now. ''Father…'' He said and the two embraced.

Hinata watched it all a bit behind, letting the Starks have their moment. It took some more hugs and kisses before anyone said something again.

''But how did you escape?'' Robb asked. ''We received a crow with a letter from the Queen saying she was holding you prisoner.''

''She held me for less than a day.'' Lord Stark said before looking at Hinata. ''Hinata rescued me after she took the girls out of the city.''

Robb let his mouth open in full shock while he looked at Hinata. Lady Stark on the other hand was quick to go to the girl and embrace her.

''Ah! L-Lady S-Stark!'' Hinata stuttered in embarrassment. ''I-I…''

''Thank you, thank you so much!'' She said and then she took Hinata's face in her hands. ''First Brandon and now this… You really were sent by the gods to protect us.''

Hinata's face was fully red after this and she really did not know what to say. The Starks noticed and laughed more.

After this more people arrived, the Lords vassals to Lord Stark and many others. They were all surprised by the unexpected arrival of their Lord but all gave him a great welcome.

One Lord in particularly, a giant of a man called Jon Umber 'Greatjon' from what Hinata heard, gave Lord Stark a warm welcome and then proceeded to tell him in loud voice how he had raised a great son, much to Robb's embarrassment. Apparently back at Winterfell 'Greatjon' had been a bit 'too rude' at Robb and this cost him two fingers, courtesy of Grey Wind and… after that it seemed that Greatjon became Robb greatest supporter. Hinata was confused about how this worked but Lord Stark simply laughed and said something about Greatjon still being the same 'bloody fool' as always.

================================================

Obviously the Lords all had a million questions but Lord Stark told then that he was tired after such a long trip and that he needed to rest for a bit and talk with his family. Afterwards they would meet and he would explain everything.

After this, Hinata separated from the Starks for a bit. But not before Lord Stark asked Lord Edmure Tully, Lady Stark's brother, something that made him look at Hinata with a confused expression. Hinata had not heard what was said but soon she was guided to a room at the castle and, arriving there, she had an idea of what it was that Lord Stark requested. The room was far bigger than the one that she had at the Red Keep and going by the paintings, jars of flowers, a large bed and more, it was clear that this was a room intended for a noble and not a common servant. It even had a balcony that let her see the river in its full glory.

Further confirmation came when two servant girls arrived just a bit later, calling her 'Lady Rinata' and saying that Lord Edmure had sent them to assist her with anything she needed. Hinata was embarrassed to be treated like this, it was not so long ago that she herself was acting like a servant, but she ended up accepting their help in preparing a bath for her. Sending them away would be impolite.

Truth be told, Hinata was really tired after such a long trip, especially because she forced to remain alert the whole time. So she enjoyed the bath the large tub, almost falling sleep right there.

However as much as she wanted to relax Hinata's mind keep coming back to the image that she saw earlier; of all the people killed during last's night battle. Ser Suzaku's accusatory face was a fixed image in her mind as she considered her part in all this. Even if war was inevitable, nobody could say that it had to reach this scale. It could easily have been limited to just King Stannis trying to claim the throne by himself.

With a sad expression on, Hinata sat in the bathtub, wishing that there was something she could do to at least ease the pain of all those innocent soldiers who probably wanted nothing more than to go back home to their families.

Then an idea hit her.

Hinata called for her servants. Soon she ended her bath and was dressed in a simple lavender dress. She then asked the servants to lead her to the where the wounded were kept. At first the two girls tried to discourage her from this idea, saying that that was no place for a young woman to go. But Hinata insisted and they obeyed.

The injured were kept in a large tent just outside the castle. There was not much space left so some people were left outside of the tent in numerous stretchers. It was not a pretty sight to behold and both her servants looked horrified just to look at so many people missing limbs while some still bled from poorly bandaged wounds.

Hinata remained firm and quickly activated her Byakugan to search for whoever was in the worst condition. It did not take long for her to find a man in Stark colors missing an arm, seemingly about to die from a large wound on his chest. Hinata ran in his direction, followed by her two confused servants, and as soon as she got close to the man she knelt down and channeled white energy.

The effect was quick when she touched the dying man: a white aura surrounded him and Hinata, and his wounds healed immediately. He did not recover his arm but his life was saved.

Her two servants had hanging mouths of pure shock at seeing this; same as some of the other soldiers who happened to be passing by and saw the whole thing. Hinata however quickly reactivated her Byakugan and ran towards the next person she saw to be on the brink of death.

It was a bit ironic to be doing this after she kept her abilities a secret for so long. But after her rescue of Lord Stark in King's Landing, she doubted that all that she her abilities would stay a secret. So she might as well help as much as she could.

Hinata ran from stretcher to stretcher, prioritizing the soldiers that had the worst injures. It did not take long for everybody to see what she was doing but the camp medics, while still impressed by such a casual display of magic, recovered quickly and soon they were helping her locate the soldiers that were in the worst condition.

She was forced to make a connection with the castle of Riverrun when her supply of white energy ran out, something that was easy to achieve thanks to the strong memory of seeing the Starks reunite and Lady Stark's thanks. That was still not enough however so she switched to green energy; it was not as efficient at healing as white was and in a few really bad cases she was forced to use it twice but, given the situation, it was still a great help.

When her green energy also ran out she told the medics that she needed a bit of time before she could heal again and they quickly took her to a tent while promising to prepare the wounded for her as soon as she was ready.

While waiting for her lands to recharge Hinata noticed that her two servants still follow her and looked partially intimidated and partly impressed… something that Hinata was not used to seeing being directed at her.

''So… are you some kind of witch, then?'' The younger of the servant girls, a redhead that was probably Hinata's age, asked her after a few moments of silence.

The other servant, a blonde girl that probably was fifteen, hit the first on the back of her head. ''Stupid, don't say something like that Bessa!'' She said, scolding her partner. Then she bowed her head to Hinata. ''Forgive us, milady, but what you did was… simply impossible, and I cannot help but ask the same question.''

The first servant, Bessa, mumbled something about there being 'no need to hit her if she was going to ask the same thing' and Hinata put a hand on the back of her own head, a bit embarrassment by the question.

''L-lets… just say that is a special kind 'magic' that I was born with.'' Not exactly the truth but, as far as she knew, not a lie either. For all that she knew she might have always had the potential to do all these things. It just took her awhile to discover it.

The blonde servant seemed to understand that Hinata did not want to elaborate on that and changed the subject, even if Bessa still wanted to ask more.

They talked for a bit while waiting for Hinata to recharge. The blonde servant was named Dalla and she was actually from the North, having moved with her family when she was a younger. Bessa on the other hand was born in Riverrun but both girls were orphans who lived in the keep with the other servants.

Hinata told then a bit about herself too, saying that she was born into a great clan in a land far away from Westeros, in a village of warriors. She did not specify how she arrived at Winterfell but she said that it was not so long ago that she herself was a servant too. When they asked why she wasn't a servant anymore, the Hyuuga girl said that the new treatment was probably a way for Lord Stark to repay her for saving his life and the lives of his daughters when she rescued him from imprisonment in the Red Keep.

Dalla and Bessa were, understandably, shocked to hear that. But their conversation had to be put on hold because Hinata's first land had recharged.

She spent the entire morning and afternoon healing as many people as she could. She did not heal the ones the medics said that they could heal easily, but other than that she helped hundreds of soldiers and also some camp followers that were caught on the middle of the battle. She even healed Lannister's soldiers, much to everyone's surprise, but in Hinata's eyes that did not matter; they were just farmers and others that had been forced into this.

The ones that she healed were, of course, overwhelming grateful. Some tried to repay her for what she had done but she refused every offer. The vast majority of the Lannisters soldiers that she helped also swore to switch sides to the Starks, something that Hinata did not request but she also did not discourage.

More than a few seemed to believe that Hinata was a goddess. The first one to declare this surprised Hinata, but she was quick to deny it. That did not stop many people from repeating the same thing even as the young Hyuuga insisted on denying them. The last thing she needed was for someone to start a religion around her.

================================================

At the end of the afternoon Hinata was exhausted. As soon as it became clear that her work was done she went back to her room and spent a few hours napping before Dalla and Bessa woke her up to tell her that a great feast would be held in honor of yesterday's victory. With the two servants help Hinata cleaned herself and dressed into a beautifully blue dress that the two girls gave her, one of Lady's Stark old dresses apparently. They also gave her a golden necklace to go with it, insisting even after Hinata tried to refuse it. All of this treatment was such a difference from everything that she had lived in the last couple of months that Hinata could not help but be completely embarrassed by it.

Riverrun's Great Hall was not as big as the one in Winterfell but it was still of a great size and it was full of people, from great Lords to small Lords and knights and many more. Outside, at the camps, the soldiers also feasted in celebration together with the common folk of Riverrun and the mood was joyful all around the army. There were people laughing and drinking and eating just to celebrate the fact that they were alive.

Hinata did not knew where she was going to sit but as soon as he saw her Lord Stark signaled for her to sit on the high table with him, his family and the Tullys. Hinata did so, sitting together with Arya and Sansa. The young Hyuuga could felt the eyes of all the other Lords on her as she did so but tried to ignore it.

On the opening toast however, much to the girl's embarrassment, after the necessary toasts were made to Robb and the other commanders of the victory on the previous day Lord Stark made a toast to Hinata for having been the one to rescue him and his daughters and, with all the great and little lords hearing, he told that she had defeated Ser Suzaku during the rescue.

The Lords were shocked to hear that a small girl had defeated one of the best known knights in the Seven Kingdoms. Some clearly did not believe it but many seemed to have thoughtful expressions on their faces. The reason for that was explained when one of them, Lady Maege Mormont of Bear Island, also made a toast in Hinata's name to thank her for having healed her soldiers. Something that was soon followed by other vassals of the Starks and Tullys that also had soldiers healed by the girl.

After that the Hyuuga tried to ignore the looks of the other Lords by focusing on her food and on the conversation of the table. By a silent agreement no one asked what they were going to do next during the war, this was to be decided the following day when people were sober and had more time to rest.

Quite unfortunately, Lord Hoster Tully, Lady Stark and Lord Edmure's father and the Lord of Riverrun, was very, very sick. Hinata thought about offering to heal him later but she soon abandoned the idea when she understood that he was basically dying of his old age. That was probably why Lady Stark had not asked already. As amazing as her powers were she was quite sure that they could not save someone from natural death. Everyone must die eventually

The conversation was kept to more cheerful subjects. While they did not talk about what their next move in the war was, everyone wanted to hear how Lord Robb had managed to defeat the Lannisters yesterday and the young Stark did not mind telling the story again.

Apparently he had divided his army before arriving at Riverrun and sent the smaller group, commanded by a Lord named Roose Bolton, directly towards Tywin Lannister while Robb led the majority of the Stark army and almost all of his cavalry towards Riverrun with the intent of ending the siege and uniting the Tully army to his own. Robb did not seem particularly proud of the fact that he had sent thousands of man to die in a lost battle just to distract Tywin but Lord Stark, while telling that Robb did well in not forgetting this sacrifice, told him that Bolton had been a good choice; he was careful and would be prepared to retreat as soon as possible to save as much of the army as he could.

The best news however was that the one commanding the Lannister army at Riverrun had been Jaime Lannister himself, and that they had managed to capture him. He was a priceless hostage. Now that they were sure that the Lannisters had no Starks in their hands, they would hold the upper hand on any future negotiations.

Jaime's capture had also been an essential part of the victory the night before. Apparently while the castle was under siege Jaime would frequently ride out on sorties against some raids that a small group Tully vassals were launching to disturb the siege. Robb took the opportunity to strike, and since Jaime had only a few hundred men with him, successfully managed to capture him and nearly a hundred other knights and a dozen bannermen. The only problem was that, in a last-ditch attempt to turn the battle, Jaime charged at Robb and killed several prominent nobles that were serving as his bodyguards, including two sons of Lord Rickard Karstark who, no doubt, would be advocating to take Jaime's head sooner rather than later.

With Jaime captured, they attacked at night and the leaderless encampment had proven to be an easy target. With this victory half of the Lannister army was already dead or retreating back to the Lannister's lands. Now they had cut Tywin's supply route from the west, putting him in a very precarious position. Lord Edmure joked that the war as practically already won but Lord Stark and Lord Robb were both quick to correct him: they were at a very good position but Lord Tywin should not be underestimated.

From there the discussion turned to less serious subjects while they enjoyed the feast. The bards played and sang many different songs, most of them cheerfully and full of joy to reflect the mood. There was 'The Bear and the Maiden Fair', a very famous song, even Hinata had already decorated the lyrics; 'Bessa the Barmaid', a funny song; 'The Burning of the Ships', a song that Arya told her that some thought to be about a old Stark King in the North called Brandon the Burner; 'The Dornishman's Wife', another famous song; 'Off to Gulltown' a song about traveling to Gulltown to see a fair maid; 'A Cask of Ale' and 'Fifty-Four Tuns', both some of King's Robert favorite songs, something that momentarily gave a sad smile to Lord Stark's face; 'Black Pines' and 'Wolves in the Hills' about the Northern Mountain Clans in the North; 'The Winter Maid', a northmen's song; 'The Night That Ended' a song about the legendary Battle for the Dawn; 'Fair Maids of the Summer'; 'The Lusty Lad', which was sung when it was starting to get late and Lady Stark had already put Sansa and Arya to bed; and also…

''With his long stick, there was a great 'Thump'! And all the others felt pain from their rumps! It was thick and it was strong! Why the 'Tiny Knight' could last all day long!'' The bard sang in a cheerful voice.

Hinata covered her face with both hands while Lord Stark almost choked on his wine, laughing because he recognized that stupid song. How in the name of all that was holy had it manage to reach the Riverlands in the middle of a war Hinata would never know, but it seemed that bards traveled fast.

After that Hinata was already feeling tired so she excused herself to bed early. The fact that they were still singing that stupid song had nothing to do with this, or at least that was what she told Lord Stark when he asked. He still laughed anyway.

================================================

The next day Hinata woke up early as usual, much to Dalla and Bessa's annoyance, and asked for directions to the training grounds, something that confused the two servants. She was planning on only doing some light training, still feeling tired because of the weeks of travel and also all of the healing and the feast on the previous day. She ended up drinking a cup of wine last night. She had to admit that she was starting to develop a taste for the drink, but she knew that she should moderate herself; many shinobi ended up losing themselves in vices like that.

She was barely finished with her basic warm-ups when some of the soldiers started to watch her.

''So, are the rumors true?'' One of then asked, interrupting Hinata when she was checking her equipments to start practicing with her kunai and shuriken. ''Were you the one that rescued Lord Stark and beat Ser Suzaku of the Kingsguard?''

''I-I did rescue him.'' She said, nervous while she noticed that there were a dozen or so soldiers watching her.

Her tone of voice was probably not very convincing because the soldiers started to laugh at that. One in particular, a tall man with the sigil of a roaring giant in red, then approached the young girl.

''Truly, young lass?'' The man seemed to find the situation very funny. ''If that is so then you would not mind showing us how you did it? I could do with a morning exercise.''

Before she could answer this, a group of around twenty soldiers that were watching the whole thing in silence came running and put themselves between Hinata and the tall man, all with angry expressions and some already with hands on their sword's hilts.

''That is quite enough.'' One of them said to the tall man. ''You are bothering the Lady Healer, Umber's vassal. I suggest that you turn around and go about your business elsewhere.''

The tall man laughed. ''What is this? The one that defeated the great Ser Suzaku need some piss poor weak soldiers to defend herself? Hahaha!''

This seemed to irritate Hinata's defenders even more, one of them then turned around and knelt before her.

''Milady, I request for you to allow me to defend your honor in battle by facing this rude thug.'' He said. ''It is the least I could do after you saved my life.''

This was when Hinata realized that the group of soldiers that was defending her was all made by people that she had healed on the day before.

Much to the girl's embarrassment others soldiers also knelt before her and requested the exact same thing, all while her challenger laughed. Hinata was not really particularly fond of the idea of fighting the tall man but…

''T-that is ok.'' She gave then a nervous smile. ''I-I can fight him by m-myself, t-thank you.''

The soldiers insisted, probably thinking that her stutter was because she was worried about the fight instead of because she was nervous that an entire group of soldiers was kneeling in front of her, but the young Hyuuga said that it was fine. She could not very well let this men fight for her. Plus if she dealt with the tall man quickly it would put an end to this whole nonsense and she could go back to training.

So she fought, and it ended up being a quick affair. As soon as the signal to start was given Hinata simply ran to the back of the tall man and took him down with a blow to the knee back, next putting her short sword in his neck to signalize her victory.

The man had been angry at being defeated like this and the other soldiers laughed at that. Hinata imagined that this would be the end of it but another man, not as tall but still very strong and with the sigil of a silver gauntlet in red, quickly challenged her too, accusing the previous fighter of being a giant fool that was so slow that even a 'little girl' could take him down.

This one was faster, and smarter, but this did not help him: Hinata crossed swords with him and then forced him to the ground when she grabbed his hand with a chakra enforced fist. Then she put a sword next to his neck and the fight was over.

After that it was one challenge after another: a tall man with a sigil of a black bear in green, a strong man with the sigil of a silver sun in black, a small man with cruel eyes with the sigil of a red flayed man on pink, a man with the sigil of a black battle-axe in white, another with the sigil of a bull moose in orange, then a man with a sigil of a horse's head on bronze and then a actually knight carrying his personal sigil of a black moon on white and also the sigil of his sworn house that had a white merman with green hair and a tail in blue-green.

After this the crowd around her was getting ridiculous, it was almost like ever soldier was paying attention to her. By this point there were already betting polls, with the soldiers that had offered themselves to protect her winning quite a bit since they always bet on her.

Following her victory over the knight some other knights, sworn to House Tully and other houses of the Riverlands, made fun of the defeated one and also the rest of the soldiers that she had defeated. Apparently all of them were from the north.

Hinata sighed at this and waited until one of them suggested that they tried themselves, something that they did. Minutes later Hinata had defeated a total of ten anointed knights of the Riverlands.

By this point nobody was making fun of the losers. In fact the previous angry challengers who had lost seemed genuinely happy that she had won every battle after them. Losing to her was less humiliating now that she had beaten everyone else.

Fortunately after she beat the last knight nobody else challenged her so Hinata could go back to her room. This was definitely not what she was expecting to do in her morning training but she supposed that it was good exercise anyway.

She just wished that it had been less public. The soldiers who had previously defended her even insisted on giving her a sword salute when she exited the training field, much to the girl's embarrassment.

================================================

Later in the same day Lord Stark send a message to Hinata telling her that a War Council hold be held in Riverrun's Great Hall and he wanted her to come. The young Hyuuga was a bit surprised by the request but she attended all the same, dressed in the same clothes she wore when she went to see the merchants in King's Landing. Dalla and Bessa tried to convince her to wear a dress instead but Hinata said that since she was going to a war council she should dress accordingly.

The Great Hall was far different from the night before. A single great table was put in the middle of the hall with Lord Edmure, representing his sick father, sitting in the great chair of the Tullys at the center of the table on the right and his vassals sitting at his side. Lord Stark sat on the other center of the table with his vassals also sitting next to him, Lord Robb of course sat on his right.

Hinata did not knew if she was going to be allowed to sit but as soon as she entered the hall a two meters tall lanky woman called for her to sit on her side close to one of the ends of the table. She was dressed in leather armor with a green surcoat with the image of a black bear and carried a battle mace on her side. Despite her long features, she seemed quite elegant.

''Hinata, is that right?'' The taller woman asked her. ''I am Lady Dacey, of House Mormont, heir to Bear Island.''

''Is a pleasure to meet you, milady.'' Hinata bowed her head slightly. ''I thank you for letting me sit next to you.''

''Is nothing, and the pleasure is mine. You did heal some of my house's soldiers after all, and I am always happy to meet a fellow female warrior.'' She said, smiling to her. ''I heard about your spars with the soldiers. Well done! Those fools have to learn no to underestimate a strong woman.''

Hinata gave the taller woman an embarrassed smile. The young Hyuuga of course had already noticed that people in Westeros seemed to greatly underestimate women. That is not to say that it wasn't like that in the elemental nations, but here it seemed that it was worse. Then again, from what she had heard from others, this also used to be quite bad in the elemental nations a few decades ago.

The two did not have much time to talk, because the meeting officially started shortly afterwards. Lord Stark spoke first and began to share with the other Lords the story about Jon Arryn's assassination, his investigations and, finally, the truth about Joffrey and his sibling's parentage.

As soon as the last part was revealed many Lords called for Jaime's beheading, the more enthusiastic of them being a tall man carrying the sigil of a white sun in black who even got up and picked his sword. Lord Stark however was quick respond to this.

''Jaime Lannister is valuable hostage, we will not kill him.'' He then looked in the eyes of the tall man with the sigil of the white sun. ''For now.'' He added. ''When the war is over and King Stannis is put on the throne he shall face the King's justice and then it will be his decision to give him mercy or not.''

The Lord, still a little irritated, sheathed his sword and sat back into place. Lady Dacey quietly explained to Hinata that he was Lord Rickard Karstark, the one that had lost two sons to the Kingslayer two nights before. She then commented that, knowing Stannis, Jaime might as well be dead if his last chance was the King's mercy.

The discussion then started to settle down but, as soon as there was silence once more, Lord Edmure Tully asked to talk. He then explained, in a worried voice, that they had received a raven earlier that said that Lord Renly Baratheon had declared himself King and already had the support of House Tyrell after wedding Margaery Tyrell in Highgarden. Since Renly, who Lord Stark told Hinata had ran to the south with his soldiers after Robert's death on the hunt, was also Lord of the Stormlands that meant that he had two of the richest lands of the kingdom supporting him, giving him a larger army than the Lannisters, and also the Starks and Tullys.

This piece of news shocked Hinata as much as it did all the other Lords and Ladies. After a moment of silent the great hall then exploded in discussions about what to do next. Stannis Baratheon was the Lord of Dragonstone, an island east of King's Landing, but even with Dragonstone's vassal's houses his army could not be more than four or five thousand men. However Stannis used to be King Robert's Master of Ships so he had a considerable naval power.

The Lannisters by comparison had, now that half of their army was defeated, around twenty thousand soldiers under the command of Lord Tywin Lannister, who was still in the Riverlands but far to the east of Riverrun. King's Landing also had around seven or eight thousand soldiers from the Crownlands ready to defend the city.

If the Starks and the Tullys managed to join all of their armies together, including the ones under siege by the Lannisters and the ones that Lord Roose Bolton hopefully managed to save, they would have around forty thousand soldiers, forth five if they were very lucky. However they would still be outnumbered by Renly's forces, which were estimated to be around a hundred thousand soldiers.

Many lords around the hall talked at the same time trying to come up with a plan. Some said that they should attack the Lannisters immediately and try to take the capital before Renly, a few suggested joining forces with the younger Baratheon but they were quickly dismissed by Lord Stark.

''Stannis is the King.'' He said his voice full of a commanding tone. ''By all the laws of gods and men he is the one with the right. There will be no declaration for Renly.''

The north lords remained quiet after heard this, knowing better than to argue with Lord Stark. Some Tully vassals still tried to say something but Lord Edmure raised a hand to quiet them and said:

''I am with Lord Stark.'' He sighed. ''The law of succession must be respected. Otherwise it will open a bad precedent and ever time that a King dies all of his brothers will try to raise the biggest army and claim the throne by force of arms. We cannot do this to the people of Westeros.''

This seemed to calm down the lords, but just a little. They still kept on discussing what to do next and how to win the war.

Hinata listened to the discussion with a worried expression, it seemed that the war would be getting a lot worse than she could have imagined. She, like all the others, could never have expected Renly to do this but now there was no way around it: tens of thousands more would die in this three-side civil war for the throne.

The young Hyuuga put a hand on her forehead, feeling a headache. There had to be something that she could do to help besides fighting for the Starks. She needed to think of something, anything!

As the discussions kept going for hours however the only idea that she had was to go kill Renly herself, if she remember correctly he had no heirs so his lands would transfer to King Stannis. However Lord Stark would never agree to it, she knew that he disliked assassinations.

But then again… Maybe there were ways around that.lude III: The Imp of Casterly Rock==============================​

''They have my son'' said Tywin Lannister.

'One of your sons', thought Tyrion Lannister while he sipped his wine.

They were in the middle of an emergency War Council meeting held in a great tent at the center of the Lannister Camp. A table, covered in war maps, had been set up in the middle of the tent. All around it sat the highest ranking commanders of the Lannister Army.

Despite his relatively low position in that army, Tyrion sat there as well. As much as his father despised him, he was still his son and Tywin was forced to acknowledge that from time to time. And, Tyrion supposed, he had gain some amount of credit after his performance in the last battle.

Tywin, always so fond of his youngest son, had put Tyrion and his troops on the left side of the vanguard under the command of Ser Gregor Clegane. Aside from Tyrion's three hundred mountain clansmen they had freeriders, sellswords and a lot of ill-armed raw recruits that had never see battle before. After Tyrion somehow miraculously survived the battle Lord Tywin revealed that he put together such a weak left vanguard on purpose as a trap to attract the enemy commander's attention.

But of course, he had not seen fit to tell Tyrion.

Things however did not end up as Tywin had expected. First of all because the one commanding the enemy army was an extremely cautious Lord Roose Bolton, who chose to call for a retreat as soon as he could. And second because, while the rest of Tyrion's group was hilarious weak, his clansman had fought well and gave the northmen a good fight.

And, of course, there was Thorkell. Tyrion shuddered just thinking about it. The giant of a man had rampaged through the enemy ranks with his two enormous axes, killing dozens by himself as if the Stark's soldiers were made of butter, all while wearing the greatest, most joyful smile Tyrion had ever seen. As tall as he was, Thorkell seemed like a happy child full of lemon pies while he remorselessly killed all the poor bastards stupid enough to try and fight him.

And when the battle ended he was pissed off, saying that it had been too short and that the enemy commander was a weak coward for retreating after so short a fight. While the mountain clansmen were having a good time looting the bodies of the northern soldiers, Thorkell simply sat down and pouted, of all things, because the fight had been too quick.

And somehow, seeing that giant killing machine pouting had been infinitely more terrifying than it had been funny.

Thorkell had been a bit more excited when some of the prisoners reveled that Robb Stark had separated from the rest of his troops and was rushing to Riverrun to catch Jaime's army by surprise. A good plan, even Lord Tywin was forced to admit it, and since then they had been on a forced match to try to catch up with Jaime before it was too late.

But now terrible news had reached them. The messenger speaking to the War council told them that Robb Stark had reached Riverrun before they could, managed to capture Jaime and also broke the siege while practically eliminating Jaime's army.

Even worse, news came from the south that Renly Baratheon had declared himself King with the support of the Stormlands and also of Highgarden, and that he had raised an army of a hundred thousand soldiers or something close to it.

And to top it all off Tyrion's sister, the Queen, had managed to somehow lose Eddard Stark and his two daughters. They had escaped less than a day after King's Robert death. Oh they had tried to find them, Ser Suzaku himself directed the search for the Starks. But it was all in vain. From what his sister had tell then in her letter the little girl of white eyes from the jade sea, Hinata, had been able to rescue Lord Eddard and also manage to beat the famous Ser Suzaku in combat, alongside some other guards. Tywin had been furious when this piece of news reached then and he likely still could not fully believe it.

It certainly did not help that the guards were saying that Hinata was able to summon dire wolves out of thin air. Something had convinced the guards that the girl was some kind of witch, or maybe a spirit of the Old Gods sent to rescue the Starks. They were calling her 'The Wolf Queen' or something like that from what he had heard.

Tyrion remembered meeting the girl at Winterfell very well. Gentle as she was, there was clearly something unnatural about her, and apparently it was more than just her special eyes that she claimed were shared by all of her clan. Tyrion mentally cursed once more to not have insisted on hiring her for himself. He could have tried to negotiate directly with Lord Stark. At the time it seemed clear that he had not known of her abilities, and the girl seemed to be against changing masters before the end of her contract or something like that. But then again, Tyrion could not exactly have predicted that war was only a few months away, could he?

And, speaking of Lord Eddard Stark, the messenger was now telling the War Council that he and his daughters had reached Riverrun alongside 'The Wolf Queen' the day after the siege was broken. Now one of the most accomplished commanders of Westeros was leading the armies of both the North and the Riverlords.

At this piece of news the lords of the Westerlands began discussing amongst themselves what to do next. Even after his victory, some still thought Robb Stark was a green boy. But Lord Eddard was an entirely different matter. Some advocated trying to trade all of their hostages in exchange for Ser Jaime immediately, some said that they needed to get fresh troops from the crownlands to strengthen their army, and quite a few even said that they needed to sue for peace. But they were swiftly corrected.

Both Starks and Tullys had declared for Stannis. And everyone knew that Stannis would not show his enemies any mercy. If Stannis became King, the Lannisters were done for, and the same could probably be said for the other houses of the Westerlands.

Renly might be a bit more understandable, but he had been conspiring against the Lannisters in the court for years now. It had been known for quite some time that he planned on presenting Margaery Tyrell to Robert in hopes that he would put Cersei aside. With an army as big as Renly had, he was undoubtedly confident that he could take the west by force if came to it. And he was probably right.

''There is only one thing that we can do.'' Lord Tywin Lannister said after staying silent since the messenger had said that they had capture Jaime. He pointed to the map. ''We will retreat to Harrenhal. While we are there we must find a way to pit Stannis and Renly against each other.''

Tyrion nodded, as did quite a few lords. It was well known that Stannis and Renly hated each other. If the two brothers fought, they might have a chance. Renly might have the biggest army but Stannis had the best generals. Hopefully, a conflict between the two of them would weaken them enough for the Lannisters to finish them off.

Their greatest advantage was in intrigue. All they needed was to point the right people in the right directions and the two brothers would take each other's heads and do their jobs for them.

''Yes.'' Tywin said as some of his vassals started to suggest how to make Stannis and Renly fight one another. ''The key to win this war is to not fight it.''

That was when a very loud voice crashed through the air.

''What the hell kind of dumb logic is that?!''

Everyone turned around and saw that a giant of a man had entered the tent. 'Thorkell' Tyrion thought, surprised, 'he was listening? How did he manage to do that? Why didn't the guards stop him?'

Thorkell had a furious expression on his face while he walked in Tywin's direction. Some men tried to stop him but he was quick to push them away with his great arms.

''Winning a war without fighting it? Are you fucking kidding me?'' He was almost close enough for his spit to spray over Tywin as he spoke. ''If you want your son back we can go get him back on the battlefield! You telling me that we have two perfectly good sized enemy armies to fight and you want to let then kill themselves without us?'' Now he was actually splitting in Tywin's face as he spoke, much to Tyrion's father irritation. ''I did not Walk into this Gods forsaken place to sit on my ass on some castle while everyone else is having fun fighting a war without me!''

Tyrion watched this whole scene with his mouth hanging open, unable to believe how dumb Thorkell was to speak like that to the most powerful man in Westeros.

Lord Tywin for his part kept his face impassive. But his eyes showed clearly for those who knew him that he was very, very angry with this interruption. All around him the other lords already had swords in hand and seemed ready to drive out the rude invader as soon as Tywin gave the order. Two of them were even between Tywin and Thorkell. But given the size of the second one, he could still spit Tywin's face.

''Now listen here mercenary.'' Tywin's voice was full of a cold fury. Fury ignited by both the interruption and the news about Jaime. ''I will give you two options: the first is that you will turn around and go back to your friends, where you will sit down like a good sellsword and receive the gold you lot love so much in exchange for fighting the battles that I choose to fight which, yes, can end up being none at all.''

Any other might find this to be a great offer. After all, what kind of mercenary would not love to receive gold for not fighting? Thorkell however looked positively furious at these words. Especially at the mention of gold.

''Or, the second option…'' Tywin continued. The guards outside seemed to finally wake up at this moment, because a dozen or so of them entered the tent, all with weapons pointed at Thorkell. ''If you are so desperate for an army to fight, you are welcome to try your luck against my twenty thousand by yourself.''

This gave Thorkell pause, much to Tyrion's relief. The tall man looked around the room, saw all the arms pointed at him, and then looked back to Tywin.

''Well…'' He smiled. ''Let no one say that you don't know how to offer a man what he wants.''

And then he cut Lord Tywin's head off.

It was so fast, so sudden, so unreal that no one reacted at first. One moment Thorkell was smiling at Tywin. The next, he had taken his enormous axes and cut the Lord of Casterly Rock's head in a movement faster than anyone there could ever hope to follow.

Tywin's bald head flew into the air, his neck gushing out blood as his body hit the ground and the head ended up landing on the table right in front of Tyrion. The dwarf looked at his father severed head with nothing but shock as all the others in the tent did the same, no one quite believing that had really just happened.

Then, at once, all eyes turned to Thorkell. The gigantic man was already in a fighting stance, and his face had the most jovial smile Tyrion had even seen.

''So, what are you weaklings waiting for?'' He asked in a happy voice. ''He promised me an army to fight! Come on!''

For a moment, there was only the most absolute of silences.

And then pandemonium.horkell I==============================​

The first to die were the two commanders between Thorkell and Tywin's body. They were older men but they still tried to attack him, and as a reward for their courage the old Viking cut their heads off with a single strike from one of his Danish axes.

Following that came the other commanders who were closer to him; all trying to take their chances, hoping that he would be unable to defend himself against such numbers. But Thorkell had dealt with bigger numbers even back during the times when he was a mere Viking; so he swung his axes all around him and half a dozen men lost their heads, arms and other parts.

As body parts flew in the air the Lannisters' solders finally got close enough to attack him; they met the same fate as their commanders. Thorkell's strength was such that even dual-wielding two battleaxes he could still cut the soldiers to pieces with armor and all.

Some commanders, Tyrion including, managed to escape in the middle of the fight but that was okay with Thorkell: some of the lords needed to escape so that they could inform the rest of the army about him, after all.

When Thorkell was finished killing the soldiers and commanders in the tent he exited it and was met with twenty men with spears pointed at him.

He had to smile at that.

He quickly looked at his back to see if there was something that he could use and almost laughed when he saw something that was in his reach, but instead he simply grabbed Lord Tywin's decapitated body by the leg and used it as a weapon to deflect the spears, much to the soldiers' surprise. Then he proceeded to grab his axes once more and attack the soldiers, killing them all in a matter of seconds.

The giant of a man then looked around and laughed at what he saw: five knights armed with long spears were coming at him from his left flank together with another five knights that were coming from his right.

Thorkell stuck his axes into the ground and prepared himself; then as soon as the first knight to his left came close enough Thorkell diverted his spear with his left arm and punched the horse in the chest with his right fist with all the strength that he could, which proved enough to break the animal's thorax.

As the rider fell to the ground, however, Thorkell did not miss a moment: he picked up the horse by the head before he could even finishing falling down and then turned around and threw the horse over his own head, hitting the next knight attacking him from the right as if the dying animal was an enormous living hammer, crushing both the rider and his horse with the animal's weight.

The eight other riders, for their part, started to circulate around Thorkell, all with shocked expressions after this small demonstration of strength of the former Jomsviking commander. The giant himself took the opportunity to pick up one of the fallen rider's spears and threw it at one of the knights, impaling him as the spear struck through his armor.

The remaining seven riders took this as a signal to attack again and, coming from all directions, they charged at Thorkell once more. The Viking, however, decided to change weapons once again: he grabbed the two fallen horses closest to him by the necks, those who were not yet completely dead, and spun around so that he could hit all of the riders in the middle of their charge.

As the horses and their riders fell to the ground, Thorkell finally recovered his two dane axes and then proceeded to finished off the shocked riders while the animals who were still alive ran away from him as fast as they could.

It was only after they were killed that Thorkell took notice of the hundreds of foot soldiers surrounding him, all with shocked expressions on their faces. There was only one way that he could respond to that.

Thorkell laughed with joy and ran towards them.

As he slaughtered the Lannisters' men by the dozen with his swinging axes the Viking could not be happier: this was exactly what he was looking for when he decided to take a vacation. Just a simple hand-to-hand, face-to-face combat against regular soldiers with nothing but their weapons, armor and skill.

He was already feeling the nostalgia as he remembered his time among the Jomsvikings with his brother Sigvaldi, Thors 'The Troll of Jom', Floki and so many others. He had fought together with the greatest warriors from all Scandinavia through practically the entirely of the Baltic Sea and the lands of the Rus, the lands of the Franks, Germania, England and more. He was in the vanguard of more battles that he could count, surviving every one of them for almost fifty years, fighting, commanding and living as a warrior should.

And he loved every second of it.

That was not to say that he didn't enjoy the great battles that he had lived after his Ignition, his greatest and most challenging battles were definitely the ones against others of his kind and the few who could match one of their own in battle. But when you involved too much magic into a fight, sometimes it ended up taking the place of simple pleasures like the pure joy of a good old-fashioned melee.

So, like old times, Thorkell proceeded to cut down the soldiers by the dozen as he spun his axes, giving nobody any space to reach him and, should they get too close, he killed them before they had time to attack.

The soldiers were very weak and, if he had been using mana, he could have ended the fight a long time ago but Thorkell was determined to not use any unless he was forced to; otherwise it would spoil the fun. But, even if he was happy with all the nostalgia, the soldiers were offering him little to no challenge. No doubt the majority of them were just a bunch of farmers, carpenters, shepherds and others who were put into the Lannister army as regular levies. The majority of the young lads had probably never held a sword in their lives before this.

Well, they might have lived as shepherds and farmers but they would die as warriors. Thorkell would make sure of that, it was the least he could do, after all.

Still, Thorkell could not help but be disappointed at how weak their lot was. Wasn't one of their gods named 'The Warrior'? True, Thorkell could see a few similarities that the faith of the seven had with that of the followers of the weak crucified god of his homeworld but, still, when one of your gods is literally named 'The Warrior' you should at least try to be a better fighter, army of farmers or not.

This was what Thorkell was thinking when he heard a loud voice cut through the air.

''Move away, he is mine!'' Someone screamed.

Thorkell turned around, surprised at the challenge, and his eyes widened when he saw who it was: Ser Gregor Clegane, the one that had commanded his group during the last battle, was coming towards him. The man, who was almost as tall as Thorkell was, was in full armor with his greatsword in one hand and his shield in the other.

As the soldiers made a circle to give Thorkell and Gregor space to fight the Viking had a permanent grin on his face. Finally, a worthy opponent! Well, worthy as long as Thorkell kept not using mana but, still!

Thorkell did a quick warm up with his arms and then put himself into a fighting stance - just in time to dodge Gregor's first attack with his greatsword. He took the opportunity to strike twice after that but Gregor's armor and his natural vigor protected him from the worst of the damage.

They traded blows for a while, the other soldiers apparently having decided that it was better to let them duel instead of trying to put themselves between The Mountain That Rides and Thorkell the Tall. Gregor was far faster than a man of his size using a full heavy armor had any right to be, but he was significantly slower than Thorkell, who always preferred to use little more than a mere coat of mail - but not because it made him faster, no, it was just to give his enemies a slight chance of letting him have 'fun'.

Still, the speed of the advance was significant and if things kept going this way Gregor would tire and die from attrition. Thorkell found that this notion bored him, so he decided to fix it.

With a series of quick blows to his hand Gregor's metal shield flew to the ground and the knight was now free to use his greatsword with both hands, which made his strikes faster and stronger much to Thorkell's joy.

The duel continued but, while Gregor's strikes were better, he was still far too slow and was taking too many hits from Throkell's axes, which gave him an advantage in reach and speed. Eventually, Thorkell hit Gregor's ribs one too many times and bloke something behind the armor, forcing the Mountain That Rides to kneel while spitting blood behind his helmet.

Thorkell sighed at this, clearly disappointed, and approached to finish Gregor off. The Knight, however, saw Thorkell sigh and that provoked such a fury into him that he managed to surprise the Viking with a swift strike of his sword.

Thorkell tried to dodge but it was too late: the strike cost him his left hand. As the giant of a man watched his hand go flying into the air along with one of his axes, however, he could not help but laugh.

''Hahaha! Very good, Clegane! Seems like I underestimated you!''

If anything, the admission that Thorkell had underestimated Ser Gregor Clegane made the Mountain angrier than ever and, ignoring the pain of his broken ribs, he got up and ran towards the Viking, trying to take advantage of the fact that he now only had one hand.

Thorkell, however, was done playing around; Gregor deserved more respect than this, so he dropped his other axe and waited for the right moment. When Clegane got close enough Thorkell dodged his sword and then grabbed the man's hand with his own and, taking advantage of Gregor's momentum, he threw Gregor over his head and knocked him to the ground.

The impact clearly did a number on the mountain's ribs because he once more spat blood. Thorkell, however, was quick to get down to finish it up: he drew his big dagger and tucked it through Clegane's helmet's visor, piercing the eye and the skull of his opponent and killing him on the spot.

As Gregor's body lay bleeding on the ground the soldiers around the duo collectively took a step back, no one able to believe what had just happened. With this opportunity Thorkell decided to take care of his wounds and so he channeled some Green.

Green wasn't really his main affinity, but the first world that he had ended up on had had a lot of forests and Green's fighting style fit too well into his own for him not to use it. Plus, thanks to the healing abilities that green provided him, he could fight for longer!

If he so wished he could grow back his entire hand but that would have been an insult to Gregor: if the man managed to take off his hand then he would honor that and fight with only one hand for the rest of the battle. He would only regrow the hand before that if he had no choice in order to save his own life, after all, while Thorkell did not fear death he cannot allow himself to die without first fighting with everything that he had.

But still, fighting with only one hand should at least make things more interesting! Or at least it would if the soldiers decided to stop wasting time and attack him; they had not moved since Clegane had been killed. This made Thorkell raise an eyebrow; he had hidden his use of mana so as to not scare his enemies with magic but they were still not taking advantage of the situation.

''What is the matter, you bunch of cowards!?'' Thorkell screamed at the soldiers. ''I lost a freaking hand, take advantage while you still can!''

This seemed to wake them up and, as one, they all charged at Throkell while screaming desperately. Seeing this Thorkell smiled and, since his injuries was finished closing up, he grabbed Gregor's body by the foot with his remaining hand. He then proceeded to use the Mountain's body as a bludgeon.

As he swung Gregor's body at all soldiers who were close enough Thorkell was laughing at their shocked expressions. Gregor's body was so heavy that some of them had their necks broken by the impact of having the mountain's body hit them full force.

But, as fun as this was, it was not killing then fast enough so Thorkell threw the body at the crowd of soldiers and then proceeded to recover one of his axes and go back to business.

Fighting with only one hand was tricky and it did add quite a bit of emotion to the whole thing; now Thorkell had to take greater care and needed to move more since his guard was, literally, cut in half. He was practically running in random directions the entire time as the battle preceded, making sure to rotate enough to not miss any opponent. Many, many years of battlefield experience were showing themselves useful now as he put a focus on his fight that only seasonable warriors can hope to be able to achieve.

As for his opponents, it seemed that the more people he killed the more frustrated they all got. That Thorkell was an impossible killing machine was something undeniable after this long, however, for him to still been able to kill so many of them with only one hand? That was quickly causing panic among the survivors, some of which were starting to believe that their opponent could not possibly be human.

A hundred deaths or so later, the foot soldiers seemed to have had enough of fighting against that monster and some started to run away. Then, as with almost every army, when some started to run others soon followed and in no time hundreds of soldiers were fleeing from a single man.

This made Thorkell stop smiling.

With a speed that was almost beyond human Thorkell ran towards that bunch of filthy cowards and then he killed then off by the dozens with no remorse. Then he proceeded to do the exact same thing against a group that had ran in the other direction.

He could not get them all, at least not without using mana, which was a shame because the one thing that Thorkell could not tolerate was cowardice in the face of battle.

After he was finished with the second group of deserters, Thorkell heard a familiar noise and he was forced to put his guard up to protect himself from a rain of arrows. After they managed to strike him with about half a dozen arrows Thorkell manage to sneak a peek and he found that one of the surviving commanders had gathered an entire group of archers on top of a small hill and he was already preparing another round of arrows to be thrown against the Viking.

The giant of a man had to laugh at that, took them long enough to come up with that plan, eh? Still, he channeled a bit of green to get rid of the arrows already stuck into him and then prepared himself to run towards the-

He heard screams and then the archers stopped taking aim and started to fight against somebody else. The Dane raised an eyebrow on seeing this and ran towards the Lannister's archers to see what was going on.

Much to his surprise, Shagga and the rest of the mountain clan's men were fighting against the Lannister's arches.

''Thorkell, son of Harald!'' Shagga screamed to him as soon as he got close. ''The mountain's clansmen would be honored to fight alongside you on this day!''

The Viking looked around. Of the three hundred or so mountain clansmen that had existed in the Vale, only about two hundred and fifty had survived. Even if they fought alongside him Thorkell doubted that more than ten warriors would survive since the Lannisters still had quite a few thousand soldiers who, no doubt, were already preparing a counter-attack.

As dozens of soldiers were being killed by the mountain clansmen Thorkell put a hand behind his head and laughed, a bit embarrassed. ''Geez, Shagga you are making me blush! Hahaha!'' Still, such bravery and boldness deserved a just reward. Thorkell looked around and saw that one of the warriors carried a trumpet horn.

He asked for the horn and the warrior gave him to him. Then he called the clansmen's attention.

''My battlefield brothers and sisters hear me out! Who is ready for some good old fighting?'' As one all of the clansmen roared that they were and just in time. Thorkell heard a noise and saw that three thousand or so of the Lannister's cavalry were charging towards their position. ''Then prepare yourselves, Warriors!'' Thorkell screamed, a grin fixed on his face. ''Remember, the gods care only for two things: how well you fought, and how well you died! Give your all, don't run and fight with all of your strength and I promise you that victory shall be yours!''

''THORKELL!'' They all screamed. ''THORKELL! THORKELL!''

''On position!'' He ordered and they all followed, putting themselves in a loose formation to prepare for the Lannister's charge. ''Hold!'' Thorkell screamed as the riders started to approach. ''Hold!'' He ordered once more as the enemies started to run up the hill. ''On my signal!'' He ordered and then he put the trumpet horn to his mouth.

He channeled a Red Mana for base and two more to give it form and then, when the enemies were about to close with them, he blew the horn and a thunderous sound echoed by kilometers. All of the mountain clansmen were surrounded by a red aura and they felt like their strength had multiplied beyond anything that they could ever imagine.

And, fueled by this newfound power, the mountain clansmen attacked the riders that were charging towards them.

What followed was to be remembered by the mountain clansmen as the greatest battle in their history. The horn gave then strength and speed beyond that of a mere mortal and each one of them gained power enough to kill dozens of the riders by themselves. Many of the clansmen still died, but for every one of them who fell the enemy lost fifty of theirs.

Even with this new power they might still have lost, for the first charge was not even finished when the Lannisters prepared two more cavalry charges against them, but Thorkell still fought and, when they felt the power of the horn fade away, he blew the horn again and their power came back.

It still took an hour for the battle to be finished; after the fourth cavalry charge had failed the Lannisters tried the archers once more but the clansmen charged at inhuman speed and broke the archer's formation after the second wave of arrows. After that the Lannisters' soldiers started to desert by the thousands.

Of the twenty thousand Lannister's soldiers only about a thousand or so survived. Worse yet for the Lannisters, Thorkell was pretty sure that he had managed to kill off all their best generals; only two or three survived his initial attack at the tent and tried to command the counter-attack against him. The last one that he saw, Lord Tywin's brother Kevan, was the last one that he killed; and just when he was attempting to retreat.

After the battle Thorkell was sitting on top of a rock while working on the trumpet horn. He had already regenerated his left hand back now that the battle was over, much to the clansmen's surprise. On the horizon the sun was setting, which gave the surrounding area a beautiful yellow color.

The Viking took a deep breath as he felt that good old smell of blood after a battle. All around him thousands of Lannister soldiers lay dead on the ground in a true field of carnage and gore. In the background he could hear the mountain clansmen happily pillaging what remained of the Lannister camp, and he could hear the sound of people yet dying as the clansmen finished off the wounded who had not been able to run away.

It had been too long since Thorkell had felt so at home.

''What are you doing with the Magic Horn, Thorkell son of Harald?'' Shagga asked him as he approached.

''Magic Horn?'' Thorkell asked and then laughed. ''Oh, there is nothing magical about this horn. That was all me, I just needed the horn to help out with channeling.'' He then finished up the last part of what he was doing and smiled. ''At least until now.''

He then gave the horn to Shagga and clansmen started to look at what Thorkell had done. The horn now had a number of Nordic Runes carved on it but, otherwise, it seemed the same as always.

''I just added a simple enchantment there.'' Thorkell explained. ''It will allow you to use the exact same effect that I used on the battle even if you cannot use magic.'' Shagga's eyes widened at what he heard. ''Since the original owner died in the battle you can keep the horn, Shagga, it is a gift for you and the rest of the clans.''

Shagga was completely shocked by this but he quickly put the horn close to his chest and looked Thorkell in the eyes. ''I, Shagga son of Dolf, Chieftain of the Stone Crows, shall carry 'The Horn of Thorkell' with honor. This I promise you, Thorkell son of Harald.''

''I know you will.'' Thorkell said with a smile. Then he got up. ''Well, how many of you guys survived?''

''About a hundred.''

''I see… I don't suppose that you guys would be up for round two, then?''

Shagga looked surprised and, when he understood what Thorkell meant by that, he looked embarrassed. He tried to say something but Thorkell quickly raised a hand.

''I understand.'' He said. ''Every single one of you who dies is one less hunter to sustain your people. You guys are in no condition to continue fighting now, you have your children and elders to feed, after all. Plus, we won anyway so it's not like you guys are giving up; the war simply is over for you guys.'' Thorkell smiled again. ''I guess that means that I will have to have fun by myself, then.'' He laughed. ''But make sure to tell your children about this victorious day! Let them hear of your deeds and, when they grow up, share with them the glories of the battlefield!''

Shagga smiled too and he was going to answer but then they heard a scream. A woman's scream, which was quickly followed by a child's scream.

Thorkell looked around and saw it: one of the clansmen had found a female camp follower who had not escaped in time. He had a hungry look in his eyes and the woman was trying to protect a little boy, probably a knight's page, from the clansman.

The clansman raised his axe but, before he could strike, he was pierced by a spear that came flying towards him.

Every single clansman stopped what they were doing and looked at Throkell, who had been the one to throw the spear and now had a serious look in his eyes. Seeing that he got their attention, the Viking decided to explain himself; ''I understand that this sort of thing is part of war.'' He crossed his arms. ''But I don't like it; there is no honor to be gained in killing off non-combatants.''

Deserters were one thing but camp-followers? What good came of killing them off? Oh, sure, as a veteran Viking Thorkell had seen his fair share of unnecessary violence but that did not mean that he enjoyed it. What was the point of killing or hurting someone who could not defend themselves?

The clansmen nodded in silence at this lesson, which they would hopefully take to heart, and the female camp follower and the page were allowed to run away unmolested. After that Thorkell said his goodbyes to Shagga and the rest of the gang.

He had to catch up with a friend.

================================================

He found Tyrion and Bronn riding towards the west at full speed some time later. It was already night so they only noticed Thorkell when he threw two spears that he had gotten from the camp at their horses.

The two fell into the ground as the horses died. Bronn quickly drew his sword and got up, but as soon as he saw that it was Thorkell that was approaching he dropped his weapon and raised his hands.

''I surrender.'' He said as he swallowed.

Thorkell walked at a slow pace towards the two and, as soon as he got close enough, he looked at Bronn and then at the sword that he had dropped on the ground with narrowed eyes.

''Come on, Thorkell.'' Bronn said when he saw Thorkell's expression. ''We are all friends, right? We drank and feasted together since the Vale, there is no need for that crap right?''

Thorkell sighed. ''Aye, yer right.'' He then picked up Bronn's sword and gave it back to him. ''Here, take it.'' Smiling, he put himself into a fighting stance.

''What? Wait! No! I…'' He tried to say.

''Come on! I like you Bronn so I should at least give you this! Die like a warrior should; in the heat of battle with a smile on yer face.'' He gave a jovial smile. ''Accept the truth: you are a dead man, o Bronn. Truly, beyond any doubt, a dead man, so die fighting bravely!'' He prepared himself. ''Alright? Here, I'll help you!''

Bronn was clearly in panic as he heard that and he tried, and failed, to find the words. Then, in an impulse of fury, he gave up and ran towards Thorkell with his sword in hand.

Thorkell killed him with a quick strike that removed his head from his shoulders.

After that, he looked towards Tyrion. The little man had gotten up and kept his face impassive. ''I suppose that I am next, then?'' He asked.

''Nah.'' Thorkell said, putting down his axes. ''Sorry for that, by the way but, while you fought well in that battle for a halfman, you are no warrior.'' Then he raised an eyebrow. ''But if you insist…''

''I fear that I must decline this offer.'' He said quickly. ''So… I suppose that I am your prisoner now?''

''Oh, hell no.'' Thorkell said, shaking his head. ''Last time I picked up a prisoner I put myself into a world of trouble.'' Granted it had a lot of good moments but the less he thought about Canute the better. ''I just wanted your help with some directions.''

''Directions? What kind of…'' His eyes widened. ''Oh… You want to know how to get to the Stark's and Renly's army.''

''Yep.''

''And… I suppose you are not planning on defecting to them, are you?''

''No.''

''You… you are going to kill then all, aren't you?''

''Yep.''

Tyrion needed a moment to recover after that. When he managed to speak again he said: ''And then what will you do? Go to King's Landing and declare yourself the King by right of conquest?''

''Don't even joke about crap like that!'' Thorkell said, irritated. ''I fucking hate politicians, and what kind of idiot would want to be King anyway?''

''Right, of course. So you are just going to murder the entirety of the armies of Westeros and then go back to whatever hell you came out of?''

''That is about it, yeah.''

Tyrion needed yet another moment to recover after that. ''Right… So what army would you prefer to annihilate first?'' The ironic tone in his voice was obvious but Thorkell ignored it.

''Hum…'' He thought for a moment. ''Let's go with the northmen first. They are closer and since the other guy's army is bigger I want to leave the best for last.''

''Of course, of course.'' He sighed. ''I suppose that I should tag along then?''

''That is the idea, yeah.''

''…You do remember that you cut off my father's head right?''

''Aye.'' Thorkell raised an eyebrow. ''And giving the place where your dear old father put you in that battle and also the fact that you are not screaming for vengeance I would say that you will not shed many tears for him.''

''… Ok, fair enough.'' Tyrion said and then he looked at his dead horses. ''Shame that we will have to walk towards Riverrun.''

Thorkell smiled and hissed. Soon after, two horses, both carrying bags of supplies, came running towards then. ''Got them in the camp, luckily I know my way around animals.'' He then grabbed something from the supplies. ''I also packed up some beer and wine, want some?''

''I don't think that there was ever a more appropriate moment to get royally drunk so yes, I do.''

Thorkell had to laugh at that, and Tyrion soon followed. However, for some reason, the halfman soon also started to cry at the same time, much to Thorkell's confusion