If you want to help me financially, you can do it on https://www.patreon.com/NeverluckySMILE
Prince Tommen had only been on five hunts with his kingly father in the past. The first had happened just a bare week after the death of Ser Prance. Tommen hadn't been certain what had brought about the king's decision, but he had made a request to Tommen to accompany him. Not a command, but a simple request. Naturally, Tommen had jumped at the chance to spend more time with his father. This was the first instance Tommen could ever remember that his king had ever gone out of his way to willingly do so. And that first hunt had been both exhilarating and terrifying for the young prince.
Obviously, he hadn't been allowed to participate in any of the actual hunting, but he had followed closely and watched and learned. King Robert had personally shown him how to see the signs of their prey, how to know which animals had recently been upon the game trail they were following, and how to know where and what the animals had been seeking. At the time, they had been hunting a family group of stags that inhabited the kingswood. He had watched and listened as his king father laid out a simple trap which involved scaring the stags into fleeing from them but also predicting where they would go and positioning spearmen and archers there. The hunt had gone off perfectly and they'd killed three stags that would be brought back and added to the castle's larders. Admittedly, Prince Tommen hadn't reacted well to watching his father and some of the other men gut and skin the stags. But he bore through it, fighting down his memories of his elder brother doing something similar before him, as well as the bile that rose up his throat. After his initial work was done and hurriedly cleaning himself of the blood, King Robert approached him and given him some soft but warm words. He congratulated him on holding his stomach in check, knowing how bad this must've been for his son and that he was proud of his self-control. And that now that he had gone through such a thing, he would be stronger for it the next time it happened.
And he certainly had been on the next three hunts. Not only did he not feel nearly as nauseous as that first time, but he had even been allowed to participate in the actual hunt! Albeit he was given a bow and never allowed to leave his king father's side for the duration of it. But he had helped! Not only that, but his single arrow had been a particularly crippling blow against the small boar they'd hunted on that trip. When he'd later realized that he'd been a significant help in bringing that bore down, Tommen had felt a rather surprisingly large swell of pride in himself as a result. A swell that was further reinforced by his king father's loud and proud voice as he later retold the tale of the hunt to the court that evening as they dined on that boar in the great hall.
So, when Prince Tommen had been approached by his king father to go on another hunt together, he had naturally jumped at the chance again. Although, he could tell that unlike the previous hunts, his father was not in a good mood. Though he honestly tried to keep his expression calm and even happy when around him, Tommen had caught the thunderous expression upon his face more than once. It was clear to the boy that his father had decided to come out on this hunt to clear his temper as much as it was to spend time with his younger son.
"Father?" Prince Tommen asked softly as he finally let his curiosity get the better of him. "What's wrong? You seem upset for some reason."
Looking down at his small son, Robert blinked in surprise, clearly not having expected his son to catch onto his act. After a moment of silent contemplation, King Robert sighed loudly, "I am. Very much so. But not at you, boy, so no need to be worried. Your brother, on the other hand? He has been a right shit again, and gotten himself into some trouble that he really, really should've known better not to."
Pondering for a moment, Tommen conceded that that was probably what had happened. His older brother, Crown Prince Joffrey, was a horrible, horrible person. Tommen didn't want to imagine having to always clean up the messes that Joffrey made was like for his father. So, him needing a chance to relax and take out his frustrations by hunting made sense to the young boy.
Clearly seeking to change the topic to a lighter one, his father smiled down at him. "So, do you have any preferences to what you want to hunt this time, son?"
Tommen stopped and blinked at his father in surprise. "You're letting me decide, father?"
"Sure," King Robert smiled, his expression noticeably more upbeat now. "I've been the one making the choices before this. How about you do it this time?"
"Uh…" Tommen stuttered, caught flatfooted and unsure. "Alright?"
"Let's see," the king mused aloud, bringing one hand up to rub at his bearded chin. "I know we've got stags, boar, foxes, ducks, swans, hares, and maybe a wolf pack or two in these woods. Among other critters we could go after. Do any of those sound interesting?"
"Um…" Tommen paused, considering the options that the king had laid out. "How…How about we try some…foxes this time, father? If we get some of those, wouldn't that mean that there'd be more hares for us to hunt next time?"
Robert loudly chuckled at that, idly patting Tommen's shoulder. "It doesn't quite work that fast, but it's definitely a good thought. Yes, foxes will do just fine!"
Tommen smiled happily as he watched his father turn and start to give out orders to their small retinue of ten guardsmen of Baratheon and Lannister men, along with Ser Boros Blount of the Kingsguard, on what their game would be this time. This was nice. Being out of the city, far from his hated brother, far from his mother, with just his king father and a few loyal men in the forest. It was…calming but invigorating in a way that Tommen had a hard way of understanding. It was like he was suddenly free of his worries and could freely lean on his father for anything. Something that was usually absent whenever they were in the Red Keep or the city below.
Lost in his thoughts as he was, Tommen didn't see it at first. He was only made aware of the sudden danger they were in when one of the guardsmen let out a loud cry of pain. Looking over to the man, Tommen gasped and flinched back as he saw the man fall with a spear sticking out of his back. A spear that was hurriedly yanked out of the dying man by a filthy, shaggy man dressed in light furs and leathers. As he did so, numerous loud cries erupted from the woodlands around them. Head swiveling everywhere, Tommen watched in mounting terror as easily four dozen men raced towards the royal hunting party, swords glinting menacingly in the sunlight, spears held overhead, and numerous other weapons at the ready.
"What the fuck is this?!" King Robert roared, looking positively furious. Before Tommen could do or say anything, he suddenly found the king standing before him in a ready stance with Dragon's Bane already in his hands. "Stand close to me, Tommen!"
Turning in slow circles, Nox stared out into the darkness surrounding him. It was darkness he had not experienced in so long he a had almost forgotten what it was like. To stand in an unending darkness with only small specks of light far, far in the distance. It was the unending darkness of space. But unlike what he had experienced in the past, there was a light that allowed him to see easily. The soft glow of the path of light beneath his feet. A path that rippled beneath his feet like water. A path that branched like a path through the forest, a forest of darkness. Each path leading into an endless darkness. He knew this place, but he had never been here. Hells, he had only ever heard of this place in legends buried in the deepest of the Sith Archives. But he knew this place. The World Between Worlds. The Vergence Scatter.
Frowning, Nox began to walk down the endless path laid out before him, the path of light rippling like water with each step he took forward.
"Well, well… Here is a face that I never thought I would see again."
The voice stopped him in his tracks. He knew that voice. Knew it well. Even if he didn't have his Force sight to compensate for his lack of eyes, he would know this voice and face anywhere. Turning on his heel, he coldly regarded the figure standing just behind him, arms behind her back and the same smug look on her face that at one point he had found respectable. "Zash."
His Master was standing behind him, a smile on her flawless face with her golden hair pristinely kept, Sith robes freshly cleaned and perfect. Everything about her was perfect. Flawless perfection. "I see you still hold on to your hope of youth and vitality despite your true visage. Even here, when you are not here, your pathetic fear prevents you from showing your true self."
Her smile didn't waver. "Ah, still such a sharp tongue, my dear Apprentice. Even after all these years, you still haven't forgiven me, have you? I took you in. Trained you. Raised you. Showed you the wonders and pleasures of life. How to use the Force to its fullest. How to conquer your fears and reach true power. Surely everything I did for you can counter our little…disagreement?"
Nox felt a growl sound low in his throat. "Disagreement? You used me. True, you trained me and pushed me to be the best. Only so that when the time was right, you could steal my body for your own. Transferring your consciousness into my body and leaving me in your worn-out husk of a corpse." Tightening his fist to fight against the rage boiling within, Nox glared at his former Master. "How are you here, Zash? The last time we spoke was just before I threw your sorry ass into a Rakata Mind Prison to free Khem of your poison."
Zash merely shrugged. "And how long do you think I stayed in that prison? I am a…resourceful woman, after all. Do you truly believe it has been only a decade since you disappeared from the known galaxy? After all, your little long-range fighter's hyperdrive was damaged during your escape. How do you know that decades, centuries, hadn't passed you by while you were escaping?"
Nox just shrugged. "If that is what happened, then that is what happened. Either way, I have no intention of returning to the Sith Empire, even if it still exists, unless I am forced to do so."
"Of course you can't. Because despite your power, despite all your achievements you have been an utter failure, my dear apprentice," Zash sighed. "You have been on this world for nearly a decade. And what have you achieved? Little to nothing. Any self-respecting Sith would've had this primitive world under their boot within the first month or two of being stranded here. And while I can admit that your rebuilding of a new Force order on a primitive world is impressive, the fact that you are merely content to be a bootlicking advisor instead of an Emperor is truly disheartening. That pathetic Jedi girl truly did irredeemably corrupt you."
While he managed to keep his face calm, his heart lurched slightly at the mention of his first love. Even after all this time, she still had a place in his heart. "Corruption is open to interpretation and one's point of view. From my side, Ashara opened me to a world I never knew existed and together, we grew far more powerful than any Sith or Jedi."
"Did you?" Zash asked disdainfully. "Tell me, if you two grew so powerful together, than how is it that you let her die?"
Feeling his anger build, Nox glowered at his former Master. "I am done with these games, Zash. Begone." And with a mere flick of his wrist, the illusion that was his former master dissipated like smoke before him.
Hearing a lightsaber being drawn behind him, Nox turned his hand, lightsaber flicking out into his own hand as he turned to face whoever was behind him. "Thanaton."
The aged Dark Council Member, his predecessor and adversary, stood behind him with his lightsaber drawn and the same condescending look on his face that Nox swore was permanent. "I always knew that you were corrupted. Just like your master. A disease. A festering pustule that needed to be excised from the Sith Order."
Smirking, Nox ignited his own blade. "Amusing coming from you, Thanaton. Especially after I watched you flee like a kicked dog with your tail between your legs after I beat you in your kaggath on Corellia. A kaggath that you proposed. And when you lost, you ran to the Dark Council and started bitching like a child that you were defeated. What did the council do? They stood by and watched as I put you down like the pathetic fool you were."
Thanaton glowered, the dark side of the Force swirling around him as his anger took hold. Nox might have been able to defeat Thanaton, but he would admit that the man was powerful in the Force. Foolish, but powerful. "Your victory was fraudulent. Achieved only because you enslaved the essences of Sith Lords far greater than yourself. And now that you no longer hold their power, the outcome will not be the same."
Nox didn't hesitate as he went immediately on the offensive, using ataru to deftly move in circles around the aged Sith. Thanaton for his part managed to match Nox strike for strike, yet despite being able to match Nox's assault, he was unable to do anything more than stay on the defensive as Nox threw everything he had at his former adversary. Between the narrow path they were fighting on, and Nox's unrelenting assault, all too soon Thanaton made a mistake in which he tried to thrust at an opening Nox had purposefully left as bait. As soon as he committed, Nox dropped low, swinging his lightsaber up and cutting effortlessly through Thanaton's outstretched arm. He then used the Force to throw the severed limb and lightsaber into the dark abyss below them before following through with a bout of Force lightning into Thanaton's chest.
"Back then I might have needed the aid of the Force Walk technique to defeat you," Nox said calmly, slowly walking around the struggling Thanaton who was clutching at the burned stump of his right arm. "But I have grown exponentially since that day. And I have long since surpassed you, Thanaton. Though, I am glad to see you here of all places. Because now, I have the pleasure of ending you myself."
Holding out his hand, Nox used the Force to grab hold of Thanaton's head. Then with a quick twist of his wrist, he spun Thanaton's head clean around, breaking his neck just as Darth Mortis had done before. But before the sound of his neck snapping could even echo, Thanaton's body disappeared as if it was never even there in the first place. "You've grown even stronger…my Master."
The voice made his back go rigid. Zash he could handle. Thanaton he could handle. Any Force apparition he could handle. But her? Could he truly handle her? Hearing her voice? Feeling her skin on his own? Feeling her warmth? Letting his senses flow, he felt her. Her. Not some imitation. Her.
Turning slowly, he fought against his racing heart. How long had he dreamed of this moment? And now, here it was. Here she was. Standing before him once again. "Ashara." His first wife, his first love, Ashara Zavros, was standing before him. Everything about her was exactly as he remembered. Her presence. Her smell. Everything was just as he remembered last he saw her. Even her clothes.
"You've grown so strong, my Master, my love," Ashara said, slowly approaching him until they were barely but a whisper away from one another. He wanted to reach out to her. To feel the warmth of her skin. But fear stayed his hand. He didn't want this illusion to be shattered. Not yet. Ashara smiled, seemingly able to guess his thoughts, as she had always been able to do. "Yet despite how strong you've grown, my love. You are still so afraid. Fear of the past repeating keeps you from moving forward. Fear of the future prevents you from doing what needs to be done. So much fear, my love."
He would not rebuke her words. She was right after all. He was afraid. Losing his mother as he did. Losing her. Losing his son and nearly losing Nyra. It would be a lie of the highest order to say that those events did not impart a lasting fear upon him. A fear that did indeed direct him on occasion. Sometimes for good. Sometimes for ill. And he did fear the future and what it held. Not necessarily for himself. But for those he loved. "And do you fault me for these fears Ashara? After all that has happened?"
Ashara smiled at him, but still neither reached out to one another. "If I were still a 'Jedi', I would say yes. Yet I know better. Fear is natural and helpful at times. But you cannot be ruled by your fear, Alim. Trust in those you love, Alim. And they might just surprise you with what they can do. Your wife, whom I fully approve of, is constantly watched by you. Your Apprentices and Acolytes are kept closely under your watch. Your vigilance does you credit. Yet you are keeping them from truly spreading their wings. Trust in them. As they trust in you, my love."
"It's not that easy," he said, lowering his head, his forehead stopping just short of her own.
"I know," she replied.
The two stayed silent for a long time, just standing and basking in one another's presence. All too soon, Nox felt the path shift beneath his feet, and when he expanded his senses, he found what felt like a new path that'd been formed off to his left. A path that led to a runic circle. "I take it that our time is up."
"Yes," Ashara nodded, still not touching him as they slowly stepped away from one another. "You have chosen your new love well, Alim. Trust them. Keep them close. Give all that you are to them. And you will find the strength to do what Bran Stark could not all those years ago."
Before he could reach for her, or ask her to stay, she disappeared. Physically and through the Force. And he was left all alone on the glowing path within the World Between Worlds. Turning his head to the left, he expanded his senses to look over the new path before him. "I suppose it would be too much to actually give me a straightforward answer as to what is going to happen or what I need to do?" He sighed, talking to himself and the Force before setting on down the new path and walking without hesitation into the runic circle before him.
Cold, darkness and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth greeted him the moment he stepped through the array. It took him more than a few moments to realize that he was lying on his back on something hard, and cold. His body ached in ways he hadn't felt since his time at Korriban. He could feel more than a few open wounds covering his body. Wounds that were clearly hastily bandaged with strips of cloth.
He couldn't feel any warmth from a fire, but he could hear the low mumbling of voices talking amongst one another not too far from where he lay. Moving slowly, Nox carefully reached across his body to feel the various bandages that were covering his body. "Master!"
Turning his head, Nox let his senses flow over towards the voices he'd first heard. There were five, including himself. His Apprentice Jon, Ygritte, Benjen, and the last were most definitely not human. Which meant that it had to be the Child of the Forest that'd led them to the ambush that'd put them here, Leaf.
Working himself into a sitting position, Nox frowned at how weak he felt and, begrudgingly, accepted his Apprentice's aid in getting him upright so that he could sit with his back leaning against some kind of wall made of roots, cold dirt, and rocks. Now upright, Nox let his senses flow out, only to immediately pull his senses back in as the presence of the weirwood roots and the tree's natural connection to the Force nearly blinded him. At best, he could only sense those close by him, and the fact that they were all far below the surface.
"So," Nox said slowly, rolling his neck. "What happened besides the obvious betrayal by the Children of the Forest?"
He could hear the intake of breath from the lone Child nearby, and he could sense as all eyes shifted towards her. Yet despite everyone's attention on her, Leaf remained silent. "She ain't said a word since we all fell down here." Ygritte said, a note of hostility in her voice. "And here the Free Folk always revered the Children…and the first time we meet with em, they try and fuck us in the arse."
Frowning, it took quite a bit, and Jon's aid, for him to slowly get to his feet. He had to crouch slightly as the space they were in was not quite tall enough for him. But with Jon's help he slowly made his way over to the Child. Even with him looming over her, Leaf did not say a word. So, he spoke for her. "You said that a decision had been made. That other one, Bark. He spoke of a bargain. What bargain did he make? And with whom? Though I have a feeling I might know the answer to both. Protection, in exchange for my death? Protection against the White Walkers and their army, correct?"
He could feel Leaf shiver in fear as she slowly looked up at him. "How?"
"Does it matter?" he asked. "Talk, before I lose what little is left of my patience."
Leaf stared up at him, her eyes unblinking as the two battled wills. She broke first, lowering her head and sighing. "Two moons ago… There was an…emissary that arrived just beyond our valley. One of the White Walkers."
Nox frowned but wasn't necessarily surprised considering what had just happened to them. "Let me guess, they offered you a deal? My death or permanent detainment. And in return the Children of the Forest would be spared. Correct?"
Leaf buried her head in her hands and nodded. "Yes. The Children gathered to decide our course as we do. And…And we chose to put our faith in you, as you are the same as Bran the Unifier. We decided that our best chance was with you."
Nox let out a breath. "Obviously, the decision wasn't unanimous."
Leaf glared up at him. "It was. We are not like you humans. We are one people. We speak with a single unified voice. Discussion was had and the decision was made. We were one in our choice to aid with you."
"Obviously not," Nox scoffed. "I'm not sure what I find more pathetic. Your naive belief that the Children of the Forest can be without dissent amongst your own. Or the fact that those who attacked us are naïve enough to believe that these White Walkers will hold true to the bargain."
Leaf made to interject, but Nox had already all but dismissed her as he tilted his head up as far as he could. He reached out through the Force to try and ascertain just how far underground they were, but he did not get far as he had to pull his sight back as the presence of the weirwood threatened to overwhelm him the further he stretched his sight. "Master?"
"I'm fine," Nox said, ignoring Jon and fighting against the urge to rub at his useless eyes as he turned towards Leaf. "I take it that your people have lived in these…tunnels for millennia, correct? Where are we and how do we reach the surface. Answer quickly…before I decide that you've outlived your usefulness."
Leaf shrunk in on herself as she looked around. "I…I do not know where we are. The paths of the weirwoods are ever changing and can traverse miles with but a single step. Knowing them is to know that you do not know them. But…there are some tunnels that are known. If we can reach them, I can guide us to the surface."
Sighing, Nox tilted his head back. He could sense some of the connecting tunnels, so he could get them somewhere. But again, the weirwoods were blinding his vision. They had no choice but to make their way upwards and hope that they would eventually stumble upon one of the pathways known to Leaf. "Well," he said rolling his neck. "Let's get moving."