V For Vanguard

Gryffindor - Goblin Silver Sword (Magical Foci)

Ch.96: Magical Mark and Gryffindor

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

A year later.

Domeric Bolton was now 14 years old.

Last year was a peaceful one.

Lord Stark informed him that he accepted Domeric's conditions about the betrothal after he talked with his wife. He and Sansa would betroth about three years later after the old contract expired.

Other than that, he got two more level 3 blue rewards from his tattoo before he decided to upgrade the Symbol of Deathly Hallows again. This time he...

Ch.95: Conditions

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

Lord Stark's face turned solemn once again and the man nodded at him to continue.

"Condition number 1. If Sansa wants to marry me, she'll stop following the Faith of the Seven. She'll stop learning from the Septa and start following the Old Gods."

Lord Stark frowned at his words "Is there any particular reason for it?"

He nodded at Lord Stark's words. "Many. But the most important one is that the whole religion is corrupt to th...

Ch.94: Tourney Ends

Bolton Lands
POV of Domeric Bolton

By the end of the Tourney, The Boltons won the melee as well as the archery contest thanks to the presence of his two sworn shields Varko and Raksa.

Raksa had especially earned a great reputation in the North thanks to her Herculean strength.

It had been more than a little awkward for him when Lord Greatjon Umber asked him for her hand in marriage to one of his sons.

He had declined, of course. Despite her strength and her own grow...

Ch.93: Tourney Starts

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

The next few days went by in a flurry of activities as various lords from all across the North arrived in Dreadfort for the tourney.

They were all astonished by the amount of wealth on display in his lands and quite a few of them tried to arrange a betrothal for him with their daughters. Lord Manderly himself talked with him six times about having a betrothal with one of his granddaughters.

And while he would admit that it was a litt...

Ch.92: Stalling Plan of Domeric

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

"That… that Tully bitch…" Lady Barbrey hissed as her face contorted in rage. "How dare she think that she could just… just… take your hand in marriage without even consulting us when we have already signed a contract?"

"The Starks can do it." He told her bluntly. "Well… they technically can't force the marriage on me. But as things stand, if Lord Stark decided to betroth his daughter to me and I refused, then all relation and tru...

Ch.91: Forced Betrothal?

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

When Lord Stark was about to say something, they heard a knock at the door.

Both of them frowned at the interruption as the door opened an inch and Maester Wolkan peeked inside the room.

"My lord, Lady Barbrey sent me to inform you that Lord Rickard Karstark and his men have arrived for the tourney."

"Lord Karstark is here, isn't he? Then send one of the sewer cleaners to escort him out of my lands."

"My lord, that would ...

Ch.90: A Task That Done Too Well

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

"I did not know that the Boltons had a Valyrian Sword of their own." Lord Stark murmured in wonder as he gazed at the Valyrian Steel sword being held by a thick sheet of glass that was further reinforced with magical runes so that it wouldn't break even if a nuclear bomb fell upon Dreadfort Castle.

"It's not really a secret," Domeric said with a shrug. "After all, it's just there. Sitting in a display behind the glass wall in the study. An...

Ch.89: Dragon Eggs

Dragonstone
POV of Domeric

Lord Stark's abrupt arrival in Dreadfort had forced Domeric to change his plans.

Unlike what the people in his small council had been told, he had not in fact gone to Braavos for some deal but he had instead gone to Dragonstone in search of any dragon eggs that might still survive in some hidden underground vault or at the crack of the Volcano where the Dragons once used to live.

The search had been long and had him for many days and a good deal...

Ch.88: Surveys?

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Eddard Stark

"That doesn't change the fact that he does accept those people in his lands." Eddard Stark pointed it out.

"Better than barring them access to his lands and telling them to go back where they came from." She said with a shrug. "Tell me, Lord Stark, do you know how much an average smallfolk farmer earns in the North in general?"

He frowned at those words and then guessed "1 to 2 gold dragons." He guessed.

"True." She nodded "Recen...

Ch.87: Rice Wine and Whiskey

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Eddard Stark

Eddard Stark sat in a guest room, overlooking the settlement growing outside Dreadfort and gazed out at the horizon while drinking wine from a glass.

He was usually not one to give in to his vices, but the wine was made by none other than Lord Bolton. It was a wine made from fermented rice.

He still didn't know what to think about it.

It was a decent drink, he would admit. And cheap. It was so cheap that even the smallfolk could ...

Ch.86: I Came Here to Mediate

Bolton Lands
POV of Eddard Stark

Eddard Stark’s internal thoughts continued to war with each other until he finally saw something that halted the gears in his mind at once.

Because a child was currently singing a melodious song and carving a face in one of the weirwood trees.

No… a better look told him that it was not a child at all. The being singing and carving a face in the weirwood tree was in fact…

When he finally realized that he was again seeing a being...

Ch.85: An Eye-Opening Experience

Bolton Lands
POV of Eddard Stark

The next day, Eddard Stark and his men continued their travel to Dreadfort, and he was flabbergasted by how smooth it was to travel on such a road.

Carts and horse carriages especially had a far easier time on these 'Concrete' roads than on dirt paths.

Traveling through the straight road, it took them only two more days of journey before they finally reached Dreadfort.

And every single person within his party was shocked by the fact ...

Ch.84: Roads, Newspapers and Owls

Bolton Lands
POV of Eddard Stark

Eddard Stark and his men traveled on their horses for another day and saw the true extent of riches within the Bolton lands which was how well the smallfolk within his lands were living.

So far, Eddard Stark had yet to see a single child living in the cold and sleeping with an empty stomach.

No wonder the smallfolk from the other lands were pouring into the Bolton lands, hoping for a better future.

And it was on the third day within ...

Ch.83: Knowing and Understanding

Road Between Winterfell and Dreadfort
POV of Eddard Stark

As their procession of 50 men traveled through the small amount of snow collected on the dirt road thanks to the Summer Snow, Eddard Stark realized that it had been a long time since a Stark visited the Dreadfort.

After all, the Boltons might have been his subject, but they were never truly loyal to the Starks. They were only subservient until they could once again get a chance to stab the Starks in the back.

Or so...

Excalibur - Valyrian Steel Sword (Magical Foci)

Ch.82: Secret Base

Winterfell Castle
POV of Eddard Stark

Eddard Stark was lying on his bed with his wife after dinner when Maester Lewin asked for an audience and gave him a letter that was sent by none other than Lord Rickard Karstark.

After giving the letter, Maester Lewin bowed and left, leaving him with the letter which he quickly opened and started reading.

"What does the letter say my love?" his wife Catelyn asked from beside him.

He opened his mouth to tell her but then decided...

Ch.81: Excalibur

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

"Domeric. Domeric." The voice came closer and closer until Domeric could hear her footsteps "Domeric… Oh... I've been searching through the entire Castle. Are you alright?"

She picked him up like the 12-year-old child he was and turned around to look over him carefully "You're not hurt, are you?" she asked worriedly as she looked him over once more.

He didn't even have the energy to roll his eyes, so he just sighed and said "I'm al...

Ch.80: Half-Brother

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

Domeric looked into Briar’s eyes and sent another legilimency probe with the efficiency of a hammer as he tried to forcefully extract her deepest memories from inside her mind.

To her credit, Briar had gotten used to the pain that came with her training and only flinched a little but didn't move or close her eyes.

He paused and came out of her mind. "Again." He said and when she nodded, he sent another painful probe into her mind.<...

Ch.79: Army Inspection - II

Bolton Lands
POV of Domeric Bolton

"But before that…" Domeric said while turning the horse towards the wall parallel to the training grounds. "…how are the studies of the men coming along."

General Bronn grimaced at his words. "Not very good. Tell the lads how to take an axe and chop a tree and they'll do it. No questions will be asked. But tell them to sit straight in a… class and they start to gossip like fishmongers. Half of them fall asleep while the other half can't ...

Ch.78: : Army Inspection - I

Bolton Lands
POV of Domeric Bolton

Domeric was sitting on a horse and gazing at the roads that were being built within his domain.

Watching hundreds of people working together to achieve a common goal on his behalf… There was just something sensational about that. Wherever he went, people would stop what they were doing and bow to him until he passed by.

Yes, being a lord could be addictive. He could admit that to himself. Perhaps this was the main reason why old Voldy ...

Ch.77: Monthly Report

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

"Alright. Give me the monthly report about the current situation of my fleet." Domeric said with a tired yawn as he sat on the main chair in what he called his 'Meeting Room'. Or planning room as he met with his subordinates here on a biweekly basis and made plans regarding the future of his domain.

He had been sitting in this meeting for the past two hours and was starting to feel the effects of his young body.

Children were not sup...

Ch.76: Ygritte

Bolton Lands
POV of Domeric Bolton

Domeric planted the sapling on the ground and then started drawing runes around it. Runes would make it grow at a far faster rate than an average plant so that the Weirwood sapling would reach the size of a 2-3 story building in a matter of months instead of the usual decades.

Once he was done with the runes, he took out his wand and cast a few powerful charms on the ground to make it more fertile.

"What are you doing?" the red-haired gi...

Ch.75: Valyrian Candle

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

"You're worried," Varko said as Domeric walked back and forth inside his study at Dreadfort.

"I'm not worried." He replied as he clenched his hands into fists and stared at the distant horizon where he had just seen his aunt leave in a ship toward Braavos.

"You're worried." Varko once again pointed out patiently "You shouldn't be. She'll be fine."

"Miss Barara will be… fineeee." Raksa squealed from beside him as she played wi...

Ch.74: Shopping Spree at Citadel

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

With his aunt Barbrey about to go on a vacation, Domeric realized that he would have to stay in Dreadfort for the upcoming two or three months and actually rule for once instead of delegating most of the boring tasks to his aunt.

But before that, there was another important thing that he needed to do.

He looked at the frankly large list of books that the men from the Printing Press workshop had asked him to bring.

After all, th...

Ch.73: City Planning

Bolton Lands
POV of Domeric Bolton

Today, the alchemists Domeric had hired in Kings Landing finally arrived by ship to Dreadfort after two whole moons' worth of time.

If he had not used portkey to travel back from King’s Landing after the end of the tournament, he would similarly have wasted two months on a ship. The thought made him shudder.

He was never a fan of conventional muggle vehicles. Especially the ones that travel on water. And the fact that these medieval sh...

Ch.72: Improved Magical Density

Bolton Lands
POV of Domeric Bolton

"So… is it completed?" Domeric asked the small being respectfully as he gazed at the weirwood grove in front of him, all of which had a carved face on them.

"It's hard to explain in human words." She said with a melancholic look "But even if it looks complete, it'll still take it months if not years or decades to turn into a true Heart Tree. A sacred place where the soul of our ancestors can reside."

"You mean a place where the Raven c...

Ch.71: Braavosi Merchant

Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton

"I see that your glass is of slightly better quality than the one provided to us by Myr." The Braavosi merchant drawled, downplaying how much better his glass was than the glass sold by Myr.

And it was not only the fact that his glass was of great quality. He had created magical blades that were used when cutting the glass which left the glasses without any cracks.

Not only that but his transportation method was also more secure than...

Ch.70: Ending the Monopoly on Glass

Bolton Lands
POV of Domeric Bolton

"I heard that it was completed," Domeric stated as he entered the large, new building with his aunt and two sworn shields.

Nycho Nystoris, the leader of the glassmakers Domeric had liberated from Myr, nodded with a bow and led the way to the inner portion of the building where the main work was going on.

They had to pass through a security check because of how tightly secured the whole building was. Or they would have to if he was not th...

House Borders at the North (Map)