Hi everyone. Another story for you, this time for House Karstark. This House and the Umbers were done dirty in season six, so was House Tully, Martell, and Tyrell.

Chapter 1: Stark and Karstark

Maester Colin walked into the Lord's chambers, he carried with him a scroll that had the Bolton sigil on it.

He handed it to a boy, a young man about fifteen or sixteen, he was lean and tall with short dark hair and blue-grey eyes. He has a growing stubble and some hair on his jaw. Noticing the Maester walking in he turned and took the letter and grimaced, seeing the flayed man on the wax.

"To Brandon Karstark, acting Lord of Karhold. Your Lord brother has returned from the South and has officially pledged his fealty to House Bolton, the new Lords of Winterfell and Warden of the North." The young man repeated from the letter and sighed, happy about his brother returning home but upset that he bent the knee to Ramsay fucking Bolton.

It's been some time since the late Lord Bolton died, killed by his enemies but he knows the truth.

The bastard killed his father. The bastard killed his half-brother and Lord Bolton's wife. It isn't common knowledge but everyone guessed it the moment he locked Lady Hornwood in her room to eat her fingers, he remembered when the Lords of the North were invited to the wedding between Lady Sansa Stark and the bastard.

A pang in his chest felt very sympathetic for her, she lost her entire family in just two years and now she was wed to the worst possible choice for a husband.

He would have done something, he had the men, but at the time he was worried for his brother. His older brother, Harrion was still prisoner by the Lannisters and he thought about family.

But Harrion, he just surrendered and bowed to them. Even he didn't snicker and smile, he offered the courtesies he was raised with and started his long journey home.

Karhold, taken by a rebel Lord by Karlon Stark. His ancestor was given the castle and became the Starks of Karhold, later, the man created the House of Karstark. His home is a strong castle, a strong keep and the guardhouse is a deathtrap for anyone that wasn't invited in.

Harrion will be home and he'll be the new Lord Karstark, but he doesn't think that should happen, he believes that Harrion lost any right to this castle and House by bowing to oathbreakers and traitors.

Now, he isn't some sod who was loyal to House Stark, he personally called his men home when his father was executed. But we swore a vow to House Stark, loyalty can bend but never break. He thought and threw the raven scroll in the fires.

"Bring my sister, and our Captain of the Guard and Master-at-Arms, actually, bring everyone to the great hall." He left and began marching towards the great hall.

His Council and sister entered and he cleared his throat, looking at them all with his arms behind his back and reconsidering what he was going to do but something has to be done and it needs to be done before his House goes down a deep dark path.

"The Bastard of Bolton is a monster, we all know it and since the death of Roose Bolton." He started and his sister, Alys urged him to continue. "My brother, your Lord has sworn our House to his cause against Jon Snow and his allies, the Wildlings." Gareth, Karhold's Castellan stepped forward.

"Are you suggesting we overthrow your brother and join the Bastard of Winterfell and his Wildlings?" He was asked and Alys defended him, scolding the Castellan for his questions.

"Harrion is a traitor. He betrayed this House when he swore fealty to oathbreakers." Alys held her chin high and stepped up the dais, joining him, "It isn't just Jon Snow, Sansa Stark also stands with her brother, and I will do the same with Brandon." She added and he smiled thankfully at his twin who held his hand.

He cleared his throat to address his council, "I hold no love for the savages, even less so for the brother of Robb Stark... But they are a thousand times better than serving a dark variation of the Mad King." His older brother made a fool's move to bend his knee.

Harrion will be regretting his choice.

Everyone in the room eventually agreed to choose him as the next Lord of Karhold and head of House Karstark. He started by calling for his soldiers, in all the settlements they control for men to fight.

He took a trip to his families Weirwood tree, it stood at a secluded area near the cliffs looking out to the Bay of Seals, it was also where the many Lords of Karhold were buried, the castle isn't so large as to have its underground crypt like Winterfell.

Alys came with him, they knelt to the Weirwood tree made a prayer to the Old Gods. They prayed for shelter for this Winter, prayed for courage when they face the Boltons with Jon Snow and Sansa Starks army of Wildlings. After they were finished they went to the grave of their father and two older brothers, Torrhen and Eddard.

"We are sorry for doing this, father, the Boltons will never be our rulers, not ever." He whispered to Rickard Karstark whose statue stared at them.

"Will we wait for Lady Sansa and Jon to see us, or we go to them?" Alys asked him and he scratched his stubble before coming up with a decision, he knew just what to do.

"First, we find where they've made camp."

He and Alys rode back home and 800 people were already gathering, the beginning of a camp being set up. He gathered his Small Council and told them of his plan to go to the Stark camp and will be taking 400 of the already assembled troops with him.

"I will be leaving you here, to be in charge, sister." He said to Alys who reluctantly agreed to the plan, their family is just like their kin at Winterfell, and a Karstark must always be at Karhold.

He rode out in force, taking his master-at-arms, Tredon Lightfoot and his son, Daron Lightfoot. This was a day before he talked with Alys, asking her to watch for their brother's arrival and to watch Gareth, he was Harrion's best friend and mentor and cannot be trusted to be loyal to his new Lord.

Umber lands were the only clear passage, no use going South to be seen by Bolton patrols near the Dreadfort.

House Umber's Lord, Smalljon was one of the men who were in attendance at Sansa's wedding to Ramsay. The man had boasted about his father's death, this comes from one of the most loyal Houses of the North, he was disgusted and felt even worse about being there at the seat of his first ancestor.

"Where are the people?" Tredon wondered as they looked around the small settlement just a half a league away, he saw no men but women and small children.

"The Umber army was laid low during the Red Wedding, not like us who marched home." He said and didn't feel sorry.

His brothers lost their lives in the war, one on the battlefield and another strangled, both murdered by the Kingslayer. He hated Robb Stark when he finally killed his father, executed for killing Willem and Martyn Lannister, the boys lives paid for the deaths of his brothers who got killed.

The Red Wedding was unfortunate, many died and thousands of soldiers lost their lives, some limbs and the few that survived will have nightmares for life.

It would have happened one way or the other, what with the King's decisions during the war. Robb was a good commander, the Young Wolf but a fool with a fool's heart. He married a foreigner Queen, someone who offered nothing in the way of support for their losing war against the Lannisters and Tyrells.

Lord Frey is a cunt, that much is clear where he stands. Roose Bolton deserved what he got, worse, being stabbed by his own son.

Some would say that he could be the new Lord of the North, he has Stark blood, a descent of the Kings of the North. He doesn't want to be King, he doesn't want to rule a kingdom but his own lands, he wasn't even supposed to be a Lord at all, he was a fourth-born son to a man who has three older boys.

If anything, he would either get sent to the Night's Watch, or be given his own tiny wooden keep within his family's lands.

When the raven came of Harrion's release from the Dark Cells, he was jovial and had a small feast prepared within the great hall of his House. Alys was ecstatic and had danced with each man from the feast, even he joined in and kissed one of the more attractive women in the castle.

His family was coming home, Gareth was so drunk the day after and sick the following days after that.

Then came the letter from Ramsay Bolton, that his brother swore allegiance to the bastard, and that severed any excitement of Harrion coming home.

"The scouts returned," Daron said and with them was a man dressed in boiled leathers and a sheepskin cloak. A Wildling. The thought ran through his mind as some of the men beside him looked on with angered expressions.

"King Crow is waiting, Southerner." Southerner? He scoffed and gripped the reins of his courser.

A gesture and the Wildling led them down the stream where it cuts off and headed South of Long Lake. Trees were cut down, signs of a camp remained and it continued a way until they reached the end of Long Lake where his eyes finally caught sight of the Stark camp.

The army that Jon and Sansa gathered were mostly made up of Wildlings, he saw few banners including that of Hornwood, Flint, the Mountain clan Houses. He expected House Manderly, Cerwyn, and Reed to be here with all their talk of being the most loyal of House Stark's bannermen.

They got to a spot and he jumped down from his oldest companion, the courser named Brennon.

He took off his gloves and waited, a moment later, the man and woman he came to see walked out of the tent with an older man and a Wildling. He noticed a giant coming out of the woods with a large tree.

Sansa Stark noticed him and gave him a cold look, "Lord Brandon Karstark, why are you here?" She asked him and he sighed, looking into her blue eyes, Jon watched him with the same cold look and he wanted to scoff, comment something clever and get to business but their enemies are the same right now.

"I came here with a large troop of my men, 1600 more near Karhold. I came here to help you defeat Ramsay Bolton." He started and saw the white direwolf, "Our families aren't friends, not anymore, your brother got what he deserved for killing my father who looked for justice." He added and waited for one of them to respond, it was Sansa.

"Why should we trust what you say, your family abandoned our brother before the Red Wedding even took place." A good quality, not trusting someone right away, it will serve her well in the coming years.

Brandon Karstark stepped closer and eyed the two, "I have no reason to side with Ramsay, he is poison to the North. I am the last Karstark male once my brother is captured, he will be disinherited and I have come to fulfill the obligations my House made to yours, we are kin... Stark and Karstark."

Karhold

Harrion Karstark smiled as his home came into view, he hasn't seen it in so long and not since he left with his brothers and father.

To see Brandon and his beautiful sister, Alys. He pushed his horse along down and was confused.

A host of soldiers were being gathered, the men who marched home when the Young Wolf executed his father. What's happening? He asked himself and turned to see the men he was borrowed to escort home for the roads are quite dangerous now.

Perhaps Lord Ramsay asked for his brother to begin gathering his bannermen, that must be it. The Wildling army led by the bastard, Jon Snow and Lord Bolton's wife, Sansa Bolton.

Was he shocked to see Ramsay Bolton kill his own father? Yes, he would have done something and what happened to the little Bolton boy... He wasn't able to do anything so he went along, even being the first to swear fealty to the new Lord so he may return home.

But he will fight for the man, he'll fight for the North against the Bastard of Winterfell and beyond.

"Now I'm home, I'm safe from that bastard." Ramsay or Jon, both weren't exactly choices for leadership. Winterfell should belong to the Starks... Or Karstarks? He thought and imagined taking the North from Ramsay, he could make a good Warden of the North.

Winterfell and Karhold and the Wolfs Den. All of them were founded by Starks, the Kings of Winter. He is the closest of kin to Lord Eddard Starks family, the castle and many like them should fall to one with the Stark blood, a legitimate Stark and he happens to be the only one unless Rickon and Bran appear out of nowhere.

"Who goes there?" He was called out and he recognized the man, it was Benar.

"Ben, it's me. Open the gates." He told the man with a wide smile, the guard didn't budge for a long moment but eventually, the gate was raised.

He was wary when he dismounted, the people within weren't looking at him with the respect he had expected to receive. A frown went across his face, his sister was nowhere in sight and neither was Brandon.

He started his journey to the second keep, crossing the bridge and this time, he was allowed inside where two hundred guardsmen waited for him.

"Welcome home... Brother." He saw his sister appear, beside her was Leith Crowl, the head of his House and Captain of the Guard.

"Why wasn't I met at First Keep? Where's Brandon, where's Gareth?" He questioned his little sister who eyed him coldly, Alys nodded and he was grabbed by two men, his escorts were as well and their Bolton shield ripped from them. "What is the meaning of this? Answer me!" He commanded and Alys spoke up.

"Harrion Karstark, by order of the council of Karhold and Brandon and I, you are hereby stripped of your rights over Karhold and these lands." She said and he watched her descend from the steps and walked closer to him, "At the end of his life, father might have fallen to hate and vengeance. But he would have never bent the knee to Lannisters and Boltons." She cursed him and spit at his feet.

"I did so as to protect our family, to ensure that House Karstark lives another hundred years." He said so sincerely, talking truthfully while Alys shook her head.

"Brandon will ensure our family's survival and honor remain intact." She said with scorn but her eyes gave the impression that she didn't want to do this. "I love all my brothers equally, you will not die, we are not Ramsay Snow." She nodded and the guards took Harrion and his escorts to the cells, she sighed and felt the emotions running through her.

She has just ordered her older brother to put in chains and thrown into a cell. Her twin is out there, she closed her eyes to feel him and believed in the connection they had since they were just children.

Ramsay will know soon enough once he doesn't hear from Harrion, he'll know that House Karstark is against him and his allies.

The army is at full strength, given the 400 that Brandon took to the Stark encampment. Food from throughout their territory was taken and brought into the castle, they have enough food to hold out for three months if the bastard comes to attack them. The man has 4000 men, he won't have her family's men to fight the Starks of Winterfell.

Maester Colin found her and she thanked him, taking the raven scroll from the Maester and unfolded it.

"Brandon's found the Stark camp, talked with Lady Sansa and Jon Snow." She read and Colin smiled with a nod, "Their army is made up of mostly Wildlings, 2000 strong with 132 from Hornwood, 200 from House Flint and 400 from the Mountain Clans." It read further that he will be accompanying Sansa and Jon to Deepwood Motte and then Bear Island to meet Lady Lyanna Mormont.

It's a slow beginning, but the North is uniting and perhaps she could assist in this matter.

"Maester Colin, write to Lord Manderly, asking for their assistance in defeating House Bolton." She told the Maester who nodded before leaving to go to his rookery.

She looked around and saw the Northmen gathered in the hall, "Back to your duties, all of you." She commanded and walked back into the hall to address her people.

A Lord's duties are never over, even when it's a woman doing the job.

AN: Hope you all enjoyed, until next time, so long.