It felt odd to have so many know the truth Jon had struggled to keep secret, yet he had no choice. There was little he could do to hide the dragon that had been born before them all.
The first time someone called him your grace it was Raymun Darry asking, "What should we do, your grace?"
"I'm not a king," Jon said to the men gathered before him. "Not yet."
Thoros frowned. "You plan to be?"
"Surely you have heard tale of the prince? The prince who cut open a kitchen cat to see the kittens inside. The prince who slew his brother's pet fawn and wore it's skin as a cloak while tormenting him. How many of you would prefer to let Joffrey take the crown when Robert dies?" That seemed to wipe the doubt from the few that had it. "I can't let the crown go to another mad king. I'll die making sure Tywin, Cersei and Joffrey don't ruin the realm just so they can have power."
"How long have you known?" asked Alyn.
"My father-" Jon sighed, "Lord Stark, he told me when I went to Winterfell with the Baratheons to name him Hand. It was why I left the day after. I went to visit my uncle Aemon at the Wall."
He explained what he could to them, telling them of how his father had stored his heritage, yet lied of where it had been. They all asked to see Dark Sister, staring in awe of the rippled steel when he drew it, many laughing when they admitted they'd thought him odd for choosing a slender longsword, yet understood now why he might want it. It wouldn't be too hard to slip past sight with a change of the hilt if he swung quickly and kept it sheathed most of the time.
"That's why you asked of R'hllor," Thoros said with a laugh. "Flames for your hilt."
"Also there are my aunt and uncle in Essos," Jon told them. "I don't know if they follow the Seven or if they'd taken to the gods there. I already know so little of them, I thought knowing of the Lord of Light might help if I met them and they followed him."
"We should sail to them," said Ser Raymun. "Let us go and bring an army back to take your throne from the Lannisters."
Beric shook his head. "And leave the realm like this? You all saw what the Lannisters did to these people."
"We can help them by ending the Lannisters," said Raymun. "Kill Tywin and those on the throne and they have no one to lead them, no power to use against us."
"And while we're gone thousands will be raped and murdered."
"My lords," Jon called out, though he imagined it was more Bloodwing's shrill roar as he sat perched on Jon's shoulder that silenced them. "We can't sail to them because I don't know where they are. The little news I have is delayed. They may be Vaes Dothrak, surrounded by an army of Dothraki, or they may be on the move again. I can't say. I won't waste us on a mission so like to fail." Jon sighed, looking up to rub Bloodwing's head with his right hand while his left scratched Ghost's scalp. "That's why I have others I'd ask you to take."
The men all straightened. "What is that?"
Looking to Alyn and Beric he said, "I know Lord Stark told you to take me to Winterfell when this is done, but it isn't. As Lord Beric reminds us, these lands are tormented by Lannister men. We all saw the horrors of Mummer's Ford. We cannot let such injustice remain. Though I am not yet king I'd ask some of you to stay here and give the people justice, support the Tullys and Riverlands while I return to King's Landing."
They looked confused as Edric asked, "Why would you go back? You heard what they said of your father." The men who left to get supplies had returned with tales from King's Landing of Eddard Stark's arrest as traitor to the crown.
"That's exactly why I have to go back," Jon said. "I can't let him rot in a cell."
"You could head north," Alyn suggested. "We could have your brother-Robb, we could have him call the banners and support you."
Raymun Darry nodded. "You could have an army on your side."
"I already do." They looked confused until he continued. "Robb has known the truth since I returned to Winterfell. He was the first to pledge to me. The Stark army is mine if I call upon them, though I've told him to act as though I was just his bastard brother until I make my claim and call upon them. Any allies he gathers should be allies to our cause. Doubtless the Tully will come with him now, but let him handle any others who would openly go against the Lannisters. I'll find others who do so from the shadows they cast upon King's Landing."
"Ser Jon, you would be a hostage," said Lothar Mallery.
"No, I would be a turncoat." He answered their surprise with a somber smile as he said, "To them I am as I always will be, a bastard. Even if I spoke the truth to them they wouldn't believe it. They would dismiss me as a mummer or a bastard thinking himself trueborn. So let them think me a Stark bastard willing to serve them, loyal to the man who knighted me while my father sent me to my death."
"Surely they would know the truth once Bloodwing grows," said Gladden Wylde.
"Aye, which is why I can't bring him." Jon glanced at the dragon, who pressed his small head to Jon's temple. "I'd ask some of you to carry him to the Wall."
"You would trust others to carry him?" Ser Raymun asked.
"You are all men who sought justice for people wronged. I ask you not to support me because I am owed a crown or even desire it, but because I believe I can do better that a prince who tortures his sibling near as much as he does animals.
"Ser Alyn." Alyn, who always dreamed of being a knight, had it granted after Raymun Darry heard from Thoros how Alyn had ridden beside Jon. He returned to the hollow hill with a shield covered in bolts he stopped from hitting the hidden dragon prince. The guard's smile still lingered days later as Jon called to him. "I'd ask you to lead the party north and bring Bloodwing to Maester Aemon at the Wall. Help him however you can before returning to aide Beric and the others."
It took time for Jon to regain some of his color and vigor, but it gave him time to know Bloodwing. He found the dragon fairly quiet and thoughtful, often tilting his head as he examined things. Jon wasn't even sure it was a he, but had a sense it was. It seemed at times as if the dragon understood not only his words but even his thoughts. When he lay with Jon in the root next where Bloodwing had been born, Jon sometimes found his mind drifting south, and the dragon would then trill mournfully and press his head to Jon's cheek and chin to cheer him up.
He hated that he had to leave the dragon, yet whenever he spoke or thought of it the creature seemed to look at him solemnly. He wanted to believe that it knew he didn't want to abandon it. That Bloodwing knew it was a duty they had to do so they could be together later. A duty he told himself the dragon seemed to accept.
Where Ghost held colors worthy of a Stark bastard Bloodwing held those of a trueborn Targaryen. It looked as though he'd absorbed the blood Jon shed, leaving him with scarlet scales and flesh dark like pooled blood in the membrane of his wings while his eyes shined like liquid gold.
Much as Ghost had, Bloodwing took to Sam. He'd been scared whenever the dragon crawled toward him, but once he realized he could only breath small puffs of smoke and was coming to beg for scraps of food, Sam warmed to him. Bloodwing took to others as well, though Jon wondered if that was simply because they all took the chance to feed him scrapes whenever they could.
They took two weeks to regain their strength, though that had been delayed when Beric led a party to slaughter a band of Lannister men who stayed in Sherrer to torment them. They returned with a mound of goods stolen from the dead soldiers and food offered by the villagers.
"They asked our name," Beric told Jon, who waved off one of the rewarded cakes. It wasn't unnoticed that he always let others eat before himself whenever they returned with treats.
"How should we be known?" asked Thoros.
"The Brotherhood of the Dragon?" suggested Raymun.
Gladden chuckled. "Shall we tell them we follow a Targaryen as well?"
"Then perhaps Brotherhood of the Scarlet King?" Lothar suggested with a nod to Bloodwing, who was taking a scrap of meet from Edric's fingers.
"The Fellowship of Fire," Sam suggested. When they looked to him, Sam nodded toward Thoros. "Let them think you all converted by Thoros. Let 'and Blood' follow it silently."
Beric grinned at that, smacking Sam's shoulder, who smiled thankfully. Thoros glanced at Jon, sat on a log beside Ghost and shaking his head with a slight smile.
It was later that night as Jon stood outside, letting Bloodwing flap his wings from his shoulder while men stood in the distance keeping watch, that Thoros approached him. "Jon," he called quietly.
Jon turned, looking to him and chuckling. "You know you look better with a beard."
"I say the same of you," Thoros said with a nod to the dark stubble growing around the boy's jaw. Watching Jon reach up to stroke the scaled head of his dragon, Thoros glanced to the cave before telling Jon, "I intend to go with you."
"Are you certain?" Jon asked. "You would do better here. If your lord let you revive me then perhaps you can do the same for others?"
Thoros shook his head. "When I asked his guidance he showed me the Red Keep cast in shadow. Besides, I was Robert's friend, that may still hold sway with some of them."
"Even with your help I would be a hostage. They may let me walk through the keep but I'll have daggers at my throat in some form or another. Here at least you could help protect people."
Thoros laughed. "There are near one hundred of us, most of whom are still here because of you and Ghost. If not for that warning we would have been taken by their trap and slaughtered. We lost twenty four men instead of one hundred. There are sellsword companies with less men than our fellowship."
"And we'll need every one of them if we're to help the realm."
"You've been given a second chance at life, Jon. The Lord of Light doesn't give such a thing to let it go to waste," Thoros said with renewed confidence in his lord. "If he brought you back then he did so for a purpose."
"Are we sure it was him?" Jon asked quietly. When Thoros looked at him questioningly he explained, "I didn't see light when I died. There was nothing. No flames, no trees, no heavens or hells, just nothing."
"Nothing that you remember," Thoros reminded. "Who knows where you were when the light left your body."
Bloodwing pressed his head against Jon while Ghost pressed his face into Jon's side and whined. "Wherever I was doesn't matter. I'm here now, and I know what I have to do. No matter how hard."
While Beric was left in charge of those remaining within the hollow hill, which would act as their base, Alyn and Jon prepared their parties to head north and south respectively.
"Ser Jon."
He turned and found Lord Beric walking to him while he secured his saddlebags to his courser. "Yes, my lord?"
"I feel torn," the man admitted quietly to Jon. "I want to aid you in your efforts, but I feel it my duty to do as you and your father asked and bring justice for these people."
"I will be fine, Lord Beric. I'll have Thoros and Sam with me."
"And the hero of Mummer's Ford," Beric said with a laugh, looking to the large wolf which seemed much larger than he had when they set out.
"Not for long," said Jon.
That surprised the Lightning Lord. "What do you mean?"
"I considered leaving him here with you," Jon said looking to Ghost, who stared at him sullenly. "But I've decided to send him north with the others, let him be with Robb where I cannot." He reached down to rub Ghost's head. "Without Robert there I fear Cersei would skin him as she's wanted since she first saw him."
Beric frowned. He'd seen how close the boy was with his direwolf and dragon. "I'm sorry you have to be separated from them."
"It's only for now," Jon said for himself. Shaking his head he looked to Beric. "Either way, you need not feel concerned, my lord. I trust you'll lead the men well."
Beric sighed. "I failed at the ambush."
"You were startled." Jon shrugged. "But you aren't alone. You have others here to aide you."
"I await Ser Alyn's return," Beric said with a laugh, "he led better than I that day."
"And you may lead better tomorrow," Jon assured, clasping Beric's shoulder. "Ser Barristan told me when I started squiring for him that doubt eats at skill. Don't doubt yourself, Lord Beric. Let others do that for you so you may prove them wrong. You are the Lord of Blackhaven. A house born of divine luck. Who better for this than you?"
Beric wore a soft smile as he nodded. He couldn't help wondering what kind of the king the boy could be if he was like this at fifteen. "Thank you, Ser Jon."
"Be a lord," Jon told him as he took his hand from his shoulder. "Command your men. Help your squire become the lord he needs to be."
At that Beric nodded. "I've released him from my service."
"Why?"
"To serve the man who may be king," Beric answered with a somber smile.
Jon shook his head. "Lord Beric-"
"In truth I am no different from Lord Stark," Beric admitted quietly. "I fear the boy's safety here, and think he could be of use to you. I saw you on the field, I'd ask you train him as you were, let him earn his birthright. If you must, let him serve as his uncle did your father."
Jon shook his head. "I won't name him some shadow guard."
"Then name him squire and teach him what I cannot."
When he told Sam of what Lord Beric had done he crossed his arms and thought on it before nodding. "It could still work. He was a squire much as I. Many saw him speak with you in King's Landing. We need only add him to our story rather than change it."
"So now it is what? Thoros rode back with me while you and Edric left to join us?"
Sam nodded. "We met you and rode ahead with Thoros while the others stayed behind to hold off the Lannister pursuers. But we became separated from them, finding refuge in a desolate town before making our return once you were healed."
Jon never felt as awful as he did when he rode south while Ghost and Bloodwing traveled north with Alyn, Ser Raymun Darry, Ser Gladden Wylde and a guard squad sure they could move silently, even with an infant dragon. It felt like Jon was being split across Westeros, but he knew he needed to do this. Aemon would take care of Bloodwing. He could name him his own, claim he found some lost egg of Silverwing or Vermithor from their visit to the Wall and raised it in secret to be a guardian of the Wall in his place. Robb would care for Ghost and keep him safe while Jon rode into the Lion's den.
He told himself Domeric and his sisters were alive, but he didn't know since there was no news of them, only Ned's arrest. There was little news from Winterfell either, but Jon imagined that once Robb heard of Ned's arrest he would call the banners.
Jon rode hard, moving quickly with only three others, each willing to skip a meal or ride into the night to close the distance. Whenever they stopped at night Jon had taken to doing his best to teach Edric what he could. He felt he owed it to the boy for taking him from Beric.
Though Edric had been hesitant to leave Beric, the lord had told him privately, "Watch him. I cannot leave these lands unguarded, but neither do I want to do so for him. I ask you to be his shield and aide in my place. Be his eyes and ears where you can, and let him train you as I can not."
That had eased Edric's concerns he had failed Lord Beric somehow, and once they took to sparing he found himself pleased with the chance to push himself against someone more skilled than Lord Beric or most master-at-arms he'd trained with. By the time they neared King's Landing Edric felt confident that if he kept to this he was destined to wield Dawn as his uncle had. It helped that Jon did all he could to mimic Barristan's training, with bits of Jaime's levity. He spoke more of Edric's potential than his failures, pointing out his mistakes but equally making his successes apparent.
Sam had improved his archery thanks to tips from Anguy. His clusters had shrunk, drawing closer to his targets despite picking up his pace. He had lingered on each shot, but Anguy told him the folly of that as it may be allowed in competition but he wielded a warbow meant to see battle and his targets wouldn't wait. The largest help seemed to come with the realization that there was maths involved with near every aspect, from the angles to the strength needed to vary distances. It gave Sam a way to study and practice in his mind even when he wasn't wielding his bow.
They were near the city when they found a secluded spot and took to digging with a spade they stole on their way south. By the time they started toward the city again, Dark Sister lay buried near a tree far from the walls, waiting for Jon to come claim it again.
Though he had abandoend his razor to let his hair grow again, Thoros did his best to keep his robes clean. He did his best to look as respectable as he could when they arrived at the city gates and the guards recognized them, drawing their swords and halting the group.
"What is this?" Thoros asked, taking the lead as he was the elder of the group. "We return from seeking the king's justice."
"With a traitor's bastard," the men spat while glaring at Jon.
"And you think he gave me traitor's blood?" Jon laughed. "Take me to the king and I'll tell him myself of your idiocy."
The men sneered, aiming their spears at his horse. "We'll do that."
Sam glanced to Jon, who seemed unafraid as they were lead toward the Red Keep surrounded by a group of guards. Somehow, his confidence eased Sam's doubts of their plans. Maybe Thoros was right and the gods were on their side for once.