(Location: Top of the Hill)
(Time Midday)
(3rd Person)
Jon and Arthur can both be seen standing at the top of the hill with their swords drawn.
Jon strikes overhead at Arthur and Arthur just blocks the strike and steps to the right letting Jon's blade slide off the end making him fall forward and into the hilt of Arthur's sword that he gets bashed with.
"Your footwork is good and I'm sure against people who don't know how to use a sword you'd be a god" he says while snickering. Jon attempts a side swipe which Arthur casually leans out the way of, Jon then keeps attempting to hit him.
"I agreed that we'd attempt to save Sansa if you could manage to strike me in a week but at this rate I don't think you'll do it in a year" he continues while dancing around Jon's blade as if it wasn't there at all.
Eventually Arthur decided to act and their blades collide together and with s quick twist and flick of his sword disarms Jon and catches his sword with his other hand.
"You are a natural fighter, even better than Rhaegar was but you have a long way to go" Arthur says before handing his sword back to him.
"Now from now until sundown I want you to practice cutting this leaf in half with your sword" Arthur states before kicking a lone tree nearby causing it to rustle and leaves to fall off in s single motion he draws his sword and swipes upwards.
To Jon's utter disbelief 5 leaves are separated in the air and with little to no sound of the sword even being drawn.
"Good luck" Arthur snorts before going to a nearby rock and sitting down and reading the journal that was in the cave.
For the rest of the day Jon attempted the remarkable feat of swordsmanship after the first two hours he managed to hit the leaf with his blade but the wind pressure from the blade would make it difficult to hit the leaf as it would cause an updraft.
As the sun soon starts to set Arthur shuts his book and gets up to see Jon completely exhausted as he continues to attempt to slice a leaf in half.
"Come on Jon we can continue tomorrow" Arthur says walking up behind him.
"Just...a few... more tries" Jon states between breathes as he wipes the sweat away from his brown.
"There is no need Jon, you definitely got a lot further that I would've though you could today" Arthur says with a big grin on his face.
"What...do...you mean" Jon huffs out between breaths looking up at him.
"No one can just cut a leaf in half after one afternoon of trying, you'd have to be some sort of god to do that, but you managed to touch the leave which is a large part of this training exercise" Arthur says with a smile as he puts his hand on Jon's shoulder.
"Knowing where the leave will be and being able to hit it are two very different things and the fact you were able to do it in a few eyes speaks to your monstrous talent" Arthur says before clapping me on the back.
"Come we need to start your magic practice, though starting from tomorrow we will spar before and after every exercise" Arthur laughs malevolently before walking back down the hill.
(In the cave)
Jon and Arthur sit in front of each other with a bottle of water between them.
"Rhaegar believed that instinct was only half of a Valyrians magic and that emotions were the other part" Arthur says while gesturing with his hands.
"It's why I didn't say anything when I knew Sansa had been taken, you need to remember that feeling that caused you to use your magic" Arthur continues
"I felt frustrated, angry and helpless" Jon states as he looks down with clenched fists.
"Good now bring those emotions back up to the surface, I want you to summon enough heat in your hands to boil this bottle of water" Arthur says in a completely serious tone.
"I'll do my best" Jon says before closing his eyes.
Jon starts to remember all the times he felt helpless where he felt trapped and felt there was nothing he could do.
Jon remembered the times he was given backbreaking work by Lady Stark, sent to his room without food.
Jon remembers when his uncle would be gone, she had always kept a copy of the key to his room and would lock his room and snap off something small in there so it got stuck, she would always say it will have to be dealt with another time and Jon would end up spending the week sleeping in the stables until Arya and Robb had caught on and gotten angry about it.
Jon remembers when he found out the truth about the nights watch the betrayal he felt at his uncle, that Lord Stark believed that Jon belonged there with the rapists, thieves and murderers.
Jon remembers when he lost Sansa in the forest.
Jon remembers when he was about to get taken by the darkness.
It all comes boiling up inside of him as a pillar of hire erupts from his hand completely disintegrating the bottle.
Arthur falls back in shock, his eyebrows nearly being singed off as he backs himself up looking in awe at the raging inferno erupting from his hand, a symphony of colours presenting themselves in the flames ranging from violet to red to orange and white.
Eventually the fire dissipates and Jon feels exhausted as he starts breathing heavily.
"That was amazing Jon" Arthur says as he gets up and goes to check on him.
"Didn't seem amazing, I could barely control it" I say in a tired voice.
"Jon when Rhaegar tried to do this you know what he could do" Arthur says and I shake my head.
"He could light a candle" Arthur says before we both burst out laughing.
"Get some sleep Jon it'll be a busy week" Arthur says before carrying Jon to what was left of the sleeping roll.
"Yeah sleep sounds goo..." Before Jon can finish he's already asleep.
For the next few days Jon and Arthur fell into a pattern of waking up eating breakfast, going up the hill where they would spar for a few hours and Arthur would correct Jon's form and teach him proper technique, then Jon would spend the rest of the day swinging his sword in an attempt to cut a leaf in half till just an hour before sunset where Arthur would spar with him again though instead of teaching he would go on the offence forcing Jon to his limits.
After sunset till midnight Jon would work on controlling his magic he managed to control it so far as heating up his hand enough to boil some water, but anymore than that and Jon would lose control of his magic shooting another pillar of magic out of his hand.
(A few days later)
(Jon POV)
"Jon you need to concentrate!" Arthur shouts while sitting down in front of Jon in the cave.
His voice breaks my concentration and my hand ignites in flames and I end up falling over.
"I can't concentrate if you keep shouting!" I snap back as I lift myself off the floor and sit against the wall.
"This is useless, I can't do it, it just blows up every time I try and release it" I say heatedly to Arthur who has gotten up from his seated position and is now leaning against the wall.
"Just take a step back and try to think about what you're doing wrong" Arthur says calmly.
"I don't know" I say frustratedly as I lift my arms up in exasperation.
"I feel the magic inside me and I can feel it go to my hands when I direct it, and that heats my hand up but if I push it further it just gets out of control and goes in all different directions" I say frustratedly as I have my hands on my knees.
"I can't say I know how to solve your problem as Rhaegar didn't have nearly as much magic as you, the small flame he could push out of his finger was the upper limits of what he could do" Arthur states while rubbing his chin.
"You say you're able to move it inside yourself?" Arthur asks
"Yes why?" I ask wondering where he was going with this.
"Have you tried imagining the result you want before releasing it from you body" Arthur contemplates as he sits down on a crate and opens some wine he found in one of the crates.
"No I've just been trying to release it" I say back pondering whether it could work or not. 'Would it really be that simple' I think to myself as I get myself ready.
I imagine the magic within myself taking the form of a sphere and then I guide it to my hand and imagine launching a ball of fire to the wall in front of myself.
A ball of flames grows from my hand about and grows to about the size of double my head.
I then command it to fire and it shoots from my hand and hits the wall and when the flames dissipates the stone can be seen to grow red with heat.
Yes! Yes very good my boy!" Shouts Arthur as he stands up in excitement and starts clapping.
"Thanks for the advice, I guess you're not just a muscle head after all" I say with humour in my voice. Before I start to feel dizzy
With exhaustion finally setting in I go over to my bedroll snd start to drift off to sleep.
'I'll be there soon Sansa'
(Time skip)
(3rd person)
Jon managed to get a better hold of his magic over the next few days and has the deadline came up he was also getting very close to being able to hit Arthur.
Arthur was having a tougher time showing off by barely using his blade to deflect attacks, now he had to put in a small amount of effort in order to keep the boy at bay
'His improvement is nothing short of monstrous' Arthur thought to himself as he deflects a thrust and leads Jon into his foot which trips him up.
Jon is currently breathing hard has he attempted to best the greatest swordsman in Westeros.
'This is my final chance, If I don't do this he won't let me save Sansa' Jon thinks to himself as he prepares himself for another bout.
Jon attacks from his right swinging his blade towards Arthur's shoulder, Arthur casually leans back spins around his blade so he ends up on the right side of Jon and holds his blade up to Jon's neck.
"You're getting sloppier usually you wouldn't make a mistake like that" Arthur lectures and he lowers his sword and moves back again.
'Fuck! He's right I need to calm down, I need a plan' Jon ponders as he gets back into his stance.
Arthur just stands there with a bored expression on his face waiting for this to be over.
'I know his cousin must be important to him but she's been taken too far inland, there's no way we'd survive' Arthur thinks to himself as he feels the guilt of placing Jon in this no win scenario.
'I think I got it' Jon thinks to himself as he gets in an unfamiliar stance, one that Arthur has never seen before.
'What is he up to he is completely open like that' Arthur narrows his eyes as he looks at the young swordsman.
'Confuse him with a made up stance, it seems to have worked' Jon smirks internally as he stands with his left foot forward his left hand stretched in front with him and with his sword behind him as if he were weathering a storm and pushing against the wind.
Jon then charges Arthur and lifts his blade up high to attack.
Arthur sighs in disappointment as he can already see the outcome of this fight in his head, and prepares to disarm him and end their final training session.
As Jon's sword reaches the apex of his swing he lets go of it.
Involuntarily Arthur's eyes are drawn to it if only for a second, but in that second he didn't see the hand that dropped the sword started to build up with magic and then it flashed, blinding him then with his other hand Jon grabbed his sword spun and hit Arthur in the knee with the flat end of his blade forcing him to the floor.
When his vision returns Arthur sees Jon holding his sword at his neck with a giant smile on his face.
"Does this make me the greatest swordsman in Westeros now?" Jon cheekily asks.
(During Jon's Training)
(Sansa POV)
"There there, let it all out" I hear Rhaenys say as she rubs my back and I throw up for the 3rd time.
"I don't know why it surprised you all that much, I mean where would they even get clothes from around here" Rhaenys continued.
"Not...helping" I say as I throw up again aiming for a hole that seemed to of been dug for us to use as a privy.
"It could be worse" Rhaenys says with a bright smile rubbing my hair.
"If these people were actually real then they'd probably try and rape us" she says in a low voice whispering in my ear.
"Imagine that eh? I've seen that one with the spider nest in his groin give you a few subtle looks" she says giving me a wink.
I throw up again.
Rhaenys just bursts out laughing but covers her mouth as to not let out any sound.
Spending time with Rhaenys I got to learn a bit about her, apparently ever since she left kings landing she's been sold from one slaver to the other, apparently each of them not wanting to deal with the repercussions of owning a contender to the iron throne.
Until one day her masters ship got attacked on the summer sea where she was being taken to Meereen and she managed to get into a life boat and escape, only to end up on this continent where she got found by native Sothoryi and given to the brindlemen as tribute to save their own people.
"Are you thinking about something" Rhaenys asks lying on her side, showing a generous amount of her body through the paper think rags she was wearing.
"Just about my brother" I say as I look away from her curvaceous body in slight jealousy.
"Oooo yes the mysterious brother" she says with a mischievous smile.
"Perhaps he will come save us on the back of a dragon, or maybe on one of the giant apes foreheads" she states as she chuckles to herself.
"He will come, I know it for sure" I say loudly before quieting myself down.
"Sansa, I say this because the sooner you hear it the better it will be" Rhaenys says in an uncharacteristically serious tone.
"Your brother is dead" she says bluntly.
"And if he isn't dead yet he will be soon" she continues.
"You're wrong, he will come I know he will he's already saved me so many times" I say trying to hold back my tears.
"Even if he does come what do you think the best case scenario would be, he would get captured too and then the components for the ritual would be complete" she states getting on her knees and sitting right in front of me.
"And either me or you would lose a cellmate" she continues
"So perhaps it's for the best her doesn't come and we should just enjoy whatever time we have left" she says regaining her smile.
"So tell me is this brother of yours handsome" she says into my ear the corner of her mouth lifting upwards as she leans into my back pressing her breast on me.
"I-I-I don't know" I stutter out feeling embarrassed at having the older woman strewn over my back.
"Mmmmm, I think you do" Rhaenys purr's in a low tone as she rubs my shoulders
"Come on you can tell me" she whispers.
I couldn't take it anymore and I just spouted the first thing to come to my mind.
"Yes he's very handsome" I say quickly before covering my hand with my mouth.
Rhaenys moves away from me holding her stomach laughing.
I can't help but pout as I see her laughing at me.
"I'm sorry little Sansa, but teasing you is too funny" she says while wiping a tear from her face.
"But at least I helped you feel a bit better about our situation" she says with a small smile.
'I guess she's right I do feel a bit calmer, I don't even feel sick anymore' I think to myself as I lie down on the stack of leaves that were placed in the cage.
"Don't worry little Sansa we will be fine, I have a plan to get us out' she whispers in my ear as she lies down behind me.
"What is it" I ask tiredly as I start to fall asleep.
Rhaenys just moved her hand which was around my stomach and holds it flat in front of me and a small flame ignites in her hand.
"Fire and blood" She whispers as I fall asleep in the older girls arms.
(AN: Bit of a boring chapter (like a majority of them ngl) but Jon kept his side of the deal that means they'll be setting off to find the brindlemen and save Sansa. I basically see all the chapters up until now as the intro has these are the main players, more action and more danger and more monstrous creatures as they travel deeper into the continent)