Bw1

Prince Lucas! You're awake." said an old man with a chain of rings around his neck. Prince… Lucas... chain of rings… stone and wooden walls. A spark of something flared in his stomach, a mixture of horror and nervousness. He looked around and with a small start noted his hands were smaller than they had been, though they were of the same healthy pale complexion.

"Where am I? Who are you ?" He asked and his voice came out slightly squeaky and without his accent somehow. This was not right. Had his prayer been answered.

The man looked panicked for a second before he answered him. "You're in your rooms in Raventree hall, the castle of your King father, King Jon Blackwood… I am Maester Nelson, I have served here since you were born." His master said obviously trying to restore 'his' memory somehow. With a start Lucas was assaulted with memories that were not his and of a completely different world. He was Lucas Blackwood, twelve year old heir and only child of King Jon Blackwood. King was being a bit generous. It was a hundred years after the end of house Justman and the Riverlands had once more descended into petty kingdoms, of which his father had one of the most powerful ones that was for sure but to be called a king? Well that was a bit much. This was not an era of Westeros he was familiar with, he knew this world as well as most of the people in it did but the only thing he could remember happening after this was the Teague invasion… about a hundred years after the end of the Justmans… so it couldn't be too far away now. He remembered the Teagues were hated by the Riverlords and they had spent their few generations in charge trying to assert their dominance. He remembered that their founder Torrence had raided the Westerlands and spent the wealth he had gained on sellswords with which he won the Riverlands with. He did not know much more after that.

"My Prince?" The maester asked, concerned at David, or Lucas as he was called spacing out.

"My apologies maester I don't know what came over me, will you tell my father I'm awake please." He asked the maester who nodded looking hugely relieved and went off to do so. Lucas had taken a fall down the stairs and had hit his head apparently. He must have been unconscious for a day or so. As he sat in the bed he began to think about his old life. And like a wave the guilt crashed over him so hard that he instantly lay back down, he had just decided to give up and had left his poor mother all alone, he had been her only family and company and he had just decided to leave her. Tears began to fall slowly down his face, for about ten minutes he sat and cried before he clamped down on it after thinking. His mother had always said he had wasted his potential. Now he had another chance, he would not waste it. For the mother he left behind he would use every but if ability he had and would help his new family grow all the stronger. An iron determination that was usually reserved only for the things he enjoyed most appeared in his eyes.

—

Lucas had been very similar to David had been, smart yet lazy with the only thing he put effort into being reading histories, martial training and anything to do with warfare. He had quite the talent for it all as well, something David had also inherited. Wielding a blade came as muscle memory to him from Lucas and his knowledge of warfare itself came from both David and Lucas's knowledge of history and battles from two worlds. Lucas was an only child though he did have Brynden Blackwood for company, his cousin and best friend and the only son of his uncle and fathers brother though Brynden did have a younger sister named Sara who was only a year younger than them. Brynden was a good friend and the two were as close as brothers. David had never had a family other than his mother and instantly fell in love with his new one.

His father was stern yet caring, Brynden was funny and clever and only slightly worse then Lucas with a blade. Sara was his favourite though, she was freakishly smart and observant, she was kind and had a unique sense of humour that Lucas came to enjoy. His mother was a doting and calm woman with a deep love of her family. She was a pretty woman with icy blue eyes and auburn hair courtesy of her maiden family, the Tullys of Riverrun. She was the sister of the current King of Riverrun. Lucas had inherited her eyes but the rest was all Blackwood. Curly raven black hair and an angular handsome face with defined cheek and jaw bones, he had a lithe but powerful build and was of average height. All in all he was now a handsome young boy, a stark contrast to the only passable looking David.

In the two years since he had been reborn he had grown into a quiet and mature boy who was no longer lazy. Instead he had gained a reputation for his 'genius', martial prowess and iron will. His genius came from his 21st century education and his martial talent was a mixture of lots of talent and extremely, extremely hard work. Only a fool would go into Westeros without being the best swordsman they could be. And Lucas was just that, by 14 he was now considered amongst the best fighters in the Riverlands and had caused quite the storm of whispers when he had refused a knighthood from King Tyland Lannister after easily winning the squire's mele, jousting and archery competition at the tourney the King of the Rock had held to celebrate wedding, a feet that had spread his reputation beyond the rivers of his homeland.

Instead of being offended the Lannister king had simply asked him why to which Lucas had simply replied it was against his religion. Which was true. Since coming to Westeros he had found great comfort in the old gods and had come to view them as real and true and the ones responsible for his new life to which he was extremely grateful to them for. The Lannister king had accepted that answer and instead asked him what he wished for instead, even offering a large amount of gold that on top of the winnings he got from the tourney would be enough to get some of his ideas going. Lucas had debated it in his head for a while, his honour didn't really like taking money that he felt he hadn't earned but after a moment he realised that he had in fact earned and he had accepted on the condition that the amount was lowered so that he only got the amount he would have gotten had it been the senior tourneys that he fought in, a move that had gained him more respect as he had hoped.

He had then spent the next few moons with the Maester pretending to create a revolutionary tax system and discussing the concept of crop rotation and fertiliser. His maester had not believed his agricultural ideas would work at first but after a small scale test his theory had proven true and the yields had nearly doubled on that plot of land. Now he, Maester Nelson, their steward Brynden Flen and his uncle Tytos, who had also been a part of their experiments had decided to bring his ideas which had all been tested and proven before his father.

That was why he sat across from his father explaining everything because his father had only passively watched their progress and was now examining their results and ideas. It took an hour for his father to read and then re read the information in front of him.

"And you came up with this Lucas?" Asked his father.

"Aye, some farmer was telling me a story about how he had stayed in Raventree for a few moons and when he returned and replanted his crop his yield was was much better than the one before, he put it down to the will of the gods but I began to think about it more, then I started reading up on farming techniques and the like and I discovered one Maester mocking rumours that the Old Ghis spread their shit on their fields. Of course I thought it strange and conducted a small experiment which proved fruitful." Lucas said and his father looked to the others who nodded confirming his story.

"Son… I don't know how to thank you… these reforms could make a huge difference." His father said.

"I have other ideas…" Lucas said and his father nodded to continue. "I have some big ideas about the army that we could implement. I would have to talk it through with Gordon but I believe it would work wonders for us." He told his father. Gordon was the master of arms at Raventree.

"I see…" his father said. "I will trust you on this Lucas but I want you to talk it over with me, Gordon and your uncle before you implement anything. Also you should involve your cousin this time, he has quite the talent for such things." His father said and Lucas eagerly nodded, he had planned to involve Brynden anyway.

"Thank you father, I promise you won't regret it." Lucas said with a grin, his icy blue eyes shining with happiness.

"That's not all though. You've proven yourself capable of great things and as such I've decided you're ready for more responsibility. You will help me with many of my duties and will learn from me." His father told him sternly. "Along with that it's about time you're betrothed." His father said and Lucas's grin fell, responsibility he could deal with but a betrothal… he didn't like it but he knew it was necessary in this world.

"Of course father, who am I to be betrothed to?" He asked.

"Allara Stark." He told him and Lucas raised an eyebrow in slight shock. Allra Stark was the youngest daughter of the King of Winter, a match that was probably above their station and even more strangely the Starks never married out of the North, sure a select few firstmen houses including his own married their daughters into the family but their sons never married Stark daughters.

"Surely you're joking? Why would the Starks agree to that?" Lucas asked, confused.

"King Harlon had apparently heard of you." His father told him. King Harlon Stark, the patient wolf, the man who besieged the Dreadfort for two years even as winter loomed which sure would have destroyed his army as well as the Boltons. He was a highly respected figure.

"And what? Just decided to marry his daughter to me?" Lucas asked, confused.

"No, but after negotiating with him for a few moons he agreed to it." His father said and Lucas nodded, if his father was anything then it was persuasive.

"A good match then, but what do they want in return?" asked Lucas.

"A secure southern border." His father answered and all in the room started at what that meant.

"He wants us to conquer the Riverlands?" He asked.

"Aye." His father replied.

"And what's he giving us to do it with?" Asked his uncle.

"Gold and his daughter who is apparently very intelligent." his father responded.

"But no men?."

"No." His father responded to his question.

"It's ambitious but possible." Lucas said. "A lot of work would need to be down before that and we would need quite the amount of gold to keep the army and economy going throughout what would no doubt be a very long war."

"Then we had better get started." His father said.

—-

Lucas watched with an unemotional visage as his cousin drilled the men in the new ways that Lucas had decided upon with his father. Taking inspiration from many different cultures both here and on earth he made quite the fierce fighting force. In the first year he introduced compulsory training for all men and boys over the age of 13. When they reached thirteen they were given their first bow and when they turned 17 they were assigned to a certain division of the army where they would serve should war come.

The most prominent of his soldiers were, of course, the infantry, like all his soldiers they wore black boiled leather armour with mail and padded cloth underneath and black coloured banded nasal helmets like the Normans used to wear. The rest of the armour and equipment differed from division to division. The infantry used long spears, kite shields and short swords and on their shoulders they had steel pauldrons and greaves on their arms. The archers, his most elite force which before he even started making reforms had been famed for their competency, had a good quality longbow and an axe for melee protection. His cavalry was more diverse, some knights in their usual heavy armour, some light scouts in just mail and leather with nothing but a light lance and sabre, some heavy horsemen with heart shaped shields, a lance, the same armour as the infantry and a mixture of melee weapons.

The reforms had been expensive but they had been able to pay for it with the increased revenue from the reforms Lucas had made and of course the large amount of old that the Starks provided. Lucas thought that the old gods were working for him, as far as he knew the Blackwoods had never tried to conquer the Riverlands and the Starks had never funded them which made him think the gods, or perhaps himself were changing history. They could field 6,000 men. 3,500 infantry, 1,000 cavalry and 1,500 archers. He had constantly measured his force against the Brackens, his most likely enemy. They could field less men at 4,500 though it was likely both Vance houses would join them in case of war much like the Tullys would join his family. About even numbers but Lucas knew his men were of better quality then the rest of the continents by now and as he watched his cousin drill them his point was proven. In good order he watched as they formed any formation his cousin commanded of them with good time. It was clear they all knew what they were doing and the time they spent practicing every month with those closest to their home seemed to be paying off. After an hour of hard drills and mock battle he and his cousin ended the practice session with the men from Raventree and its surrounding lands. His cousin rode over to him with a small smile on his face.

"Well I wouldn't want to be the one facing them." His cousin said.

"Aye… still some work to do but we could easily iron them out on campaign." Lucas agreed. His cousin looked at him for a while.

"You think war is coming?" His cousin asked.

"This is the Riverlands, war is always coming."

Lucas watched as his wife-to-be was led towards him underneath the huge weirwood that could be seen from outside the castle. He studied her once again as he had at least twenty times since she arrived two days ago.

She was the same age as he was. At seventeen she was a very beautiful girl in the way everyone described Lyanna Stark to have been. A long yet pretty face, pale, creamy skin, brown hair, steely grey eyes, a button nose. But it was not the beauty he was looking for, no he was trying to figure out how she was, was she wild like Lyanna and Arya, a lady like Sansa or perhaps something else or a bit of both. He searched her eyes for an emotion that might give him a clue but once more he found himself getting lost in her steely grey eyes. He mentally shook himself from his thoughts and gave a small yet warm smile to her. Seventeen was too young to be married in his opinion. He dreaded to think what would happen if she was to get pregnant at such a young age, that combined with Westerosi medicine would be a dreadful risk and one he knew was unavoidable. Not only would his wife feel extremely slighted and bitter if he refused to bed her, the rest of the world would mock him for it. And his house needed another son. She returned the smile softly, appreciative of his efforts of reassuring her though apparently they were not needed.

They joined hands and under the weirwood they were married by her father, King Harlon Stark. They sealed it with a chaste kiss and the gathered crowd which included certain northern Lords, most of the Starks excluding the heir, Brandon who remained in Winterfell, The Tullys, including his uncle and cousins, his family's vassals, the Paege's of Fairmarket, a few other Riverland houses had come such as the Mallisters, Darry's and Rygers. All firstmen houses that had allied with the Blackwoods against the Andal houses many times in the past. However, unlike them they followed the new gods if nowhere near as devoutly as he knew they no doubt would in the next one hundred or so years, the andal invasions were still remembered here, as were the horrors committed by soldiers in the name of their seven faced gods on the kin and vassals of these houses.

They retreated into Raventrees great hall where a large feast was held in celebration. He sat beside his now wife and they began to tak.

"How do you find the Riverlands Princess?" He asked her, her last name might have changed, her title had not.

"Quite different, my prince, but please call me Allara or Lara if you prefer." She said,

"Only if you call me Lucas." Responded and she nodded. "I would imagine it's different from Winterfell."

"Aye it is, though it holds a certain charm to it much like the north does." She responded. "I understand your own house is descended from the north."

"Aye, unfortunately my ancestors got on the bad side of the Starks of Winterfell somehow and here we are." He said and she laughed.

"Aye, quite the change, though not the first Blackwood to marry a Stark or Stark to marry a Blackwood."

"True but still, I found myself quite surprised when my father told me King Harlon had agreed to the match." He said casually to her trying to see what she knew or thought.

"Aye… I was also surprised but then my father told me all about you and the potential you showed 'That is a king of the Riverlands' he said." She responded with a small laugh at the end, anyone who was not privy to her fathers plan would have assumed it was just a joke but Lucas saw her true meaning and smiled at her.

"I thank King Harlon for his compliment and I see he was correct when he told my father of your intelligence." Lucas said.

"Oh? And is that a good thing for a wife?" She asked and he raised an eyebrow at her challenging tone.

"Intelligence is a good quality to have in any situation." He responded confused, she stared at him for a minute before nodding, Lucas was very confused.

"Most husbands, especially in the south would rather have a wife who sits pretty and manages the household while she gives them sons as heirs and daughters to marry off." She said when it was obvious he didn't follow and Lucas scoffed.

"Then those men are fools and eventually their idiocy will catch up with them." He said.

"Indeed it will, Lucas." She nodded a soft smile on her face.