Winter Is Our Fury

Chapter Fifty Three: Come And See

Jon Snow sat a table for breakfast with his trusted friend Eddison and Tormund either side of him. At the same table sat Brienne, her squire Podrick and Sansa. They all sat in silence, Jon and Sansa happy to have finally been reunited.

Tormund seductively bit into a loaf of bread while keeping his eyes trained on Brienne. She glanced up awkwardly and quickly looked away and this caused Tormund to smile. Eddison who watched the award exchange perked his eyebrows in surprise. "Sorry about the food." he broke the silence watching Sansa poke the meat. "It's not what we're known for."

"That's alright." she said. "There's more important things."

The hall doors open and a sweep of cold air rushed in as a man entered with two scrolls in his hand, one large and one small, "A letter for you, Lord Commander."

Jon looked from the scrolls and up to the message man, "I'm not Lord Commander anymore." and still the messenger held the letters for him. Jon huffed and took the letters and nodded the man away, who left with the cold wind.

Jon turned over the scrolls and the tension rose when he saw the Bolton sigils burnt into the wax seals and he glanced up at Sansa who put down her fork. Everyone at the table stopped to listen. First he opened the larger letter and read,

"To the traitor and bastard Jon Snow. You allowed thousands of Wildlings past The Wall. You have betrayed your own kind. You have betrayed The North. Winterfell is mine, bastard, come and see. Your brother Rickon is in my dungeon..."

 he trailed off looking up at Sansa with fear. "His dire wolf's skin is on my floor, come and see. I have your sister Aris, a belly swell with my child. I want the red head back, keep her from me and I will ride north and slaughter every Wilding man, woman and babe living under your protection."

Tormund tensed at those words and his eyes filled with anger.

"You will watch as I skin them living, you-" Jon cut off reading the sentence.

"Go on." said Sansa.

"It's just more of the same." and Jon threw down the scroll only for Sansa to reach over the table and snatch it up and continued to read, "You will watch as my soldiers take turns raping your sister, Sansa. You will watch as my dogs devour your wild little brother. You will watch as I cut out the baby from your sisters belly alive. Then I will spoon your eyes from their sockets and let my dogs do the rest. Come and see. Ramsay Bolton, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of The North."

It was silent for a moment as Jon stared down at the details on the wood of the table and repeated with a snarl, "Lord of Winterfell and Warden of The North."

"His father's dead." Sansa stated the obvious. "Ramsay killed him. And now he has Rickon."

"We don't know that."

"Yes we do because now he has both Aris and Rickon." Sansa's eyes glanced to the forgotten letter still unopened. "What does the other one say."

Jon sucked in a breath and broke open the Bolton seal and unraveled the scroll and his eyes widened, "It's from Aris!"

"What does it say?!"

"... Jon, it pains me to say, both The Karstarks and The Umbers have pledged to house Bolton. The Umber's delivered Rickon as faith payment. He's safe with me, for now. Ramsay took him away and has him locked up, he has denied me to see him. If you may not already know Roose Bolton is dead. Ramsay killed him, his step mother and new born brother. With the Karstarks and The Umber's, Ramsay now has over five thousand men and plans on riding North to murder the Wilding population and you Jon, whom he has labelled a traitor. I don't know how I'll manage to deliver this letter or whether it will reach you, but I hope Sansa and Theon had made it to you safely..." Jon glanced up at Theon's name and Sansa tensed. She'd have some explaining to do.

"Jon, you are Ned Starks eldest son, bastard or not, you have Stark blood. You must rally the North and take back Winterfell before it's too late, for I fear if I am carrying a girl, Ramsay will murder it and murder you and every Wildlings to pass The Wall. With much love, Aris Stark of Winterfell."

"Ramsay doesn't lie when it comes to murder." stated Sansa.

"Did you know Aris was with child?" Jon asked quickly.

Sansa shook her head. "We weren't allowed to see each other."

Jon the turned to Tormund and stressed, "How many do you have?"

"That can march and fight. Two thousand." replied Tormund and Jon faltered. "The rest are children and old people."

It was ten to one. Even if Jon did somehow manage to raise an army, they'd loose to the overwhelming numbers of the Bolton army, and even now they threaten their survival.

"You're the son of the last true Warden of the North. Aris even stated that. Northern families are loyal, they'll fight for you if you ask." explained Sansa and Jon turned his head away, so she reached across the table and took his hand in hers. "A monster has taken our home and our sister and brother. We have to go back to Winterfell and save them."

Jon's eyes met with Sansa and he saw determination. She was right. A monster has taken the things they valued and threatened their survival. As a brother, how can Jon stand by and allow Ramsay Bolton to ride north, murder innocence, murder his brother and sisters, one with a child none the less. How can he stand by and allow Ramsay Bolton to take over the North and live in their home. Even if he died trying, he'd defeat Ramsay Bolton.

And Jon eventually nodded his head.

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