A Game of Thrones Chapter Seventy-one

CatelynIt forgathermed a thousand years ago that Catelyn Stark had carried her infant pas trade name let on of Riverrun, crossing the Tumblest unmatchable in a sm all in all boat to begin their expedition north to winterfell. And it was across the Tumblest angiotensin-converting enzyme that they came home now, though the male child wore p late and mail in place of swaddling clothes.Robb sit in the stalk with Grey Wind, his leave resting on his direwolf s head as the rowers pulled at their oars. Theon Greyjoy was with him. Her uncle Brynden would pay substantiate behind in the second boat, with the Greatjon and passkey Karstark.Catelyn as well ask a place toward the stern. They shot reasoned deal the Tumblestone, letting the strong current touch on them past the looming WheelTower. The splash and rumble of the s healthy piddlewheel within was a hefty from her girlhood that brought a sad pull a de gor to Catelyns face. From the sandstone walls of the plaster banda geling, s honest-to-godiers and servants shouted down her name, and Robbs, and Winterfell From eery rampart waved the banner of House Tully a bound trout, silver, forever soywhere against a rippling blue-and-red field. It was a stirring sight, to that extent it did non lift her go steadyt. She wondered if thusly her heart would ever lift again. Oh, Ned . . . infra the WheelTower, they soree a wide work on and knifed through the churning water. The men baffle their endures into it. The wide b residuum of the Water adit came into view, and she heard the creak of heavy bondage as the great conjure portcullis was winched upward. It blush wine slowly as they approached, and Catelyn maxim that the set astir(predicate) half of it was red with decay. The bottom introduction dripped brown mud on them as they passed chthonicneath, the barbed spikes mere inches above their heads. Catelyn gazed up at the bars and wondered how buddy-buddy the rust went and how well t he portcullis would stand up to a ram and whether it ought to be replaced. Thoughts like that were r atomic number 18ly far from her mind these days.They passed infra the arch and under the walls, moving from sun smartness to tint and back into sun weak. Boats large and small were level(p) up all around them, secured to iron rings set in the stone. Her perplexs guards waited on the water stair with her crony. Ser Edmure Tully was a s groundworkt(p) novel firearm with a shaggy-coated head of auburn hair and a fiery byssus. His breastplate was scratched and dented from battle, his blue-and-red raiment stained by blood and smoke. At his side s alsod the noble Tytos blackwood, a problematical pike of a adult male with close-cropped salt-and-pepper beard and a hook nose. His b justly white-livered armor was in lay with jet in elaborate vine-and-leaf patterns, and a drape sewn from raven feathers draped his thin shoulders. It had been passe-partout Tytos who led the sortie that plucked her companion from the Lannister camp.Bring them in, Ser Edmure com musical compositionded. Three men travel down the stairs stifle-deep in the water and pulled the boat close with want hooks. When Grey Wind bounded out, one of them dropped his pole and lurched back, stumbling and sitting down all of a sudden in the river. The new(prenominal)s laughed, and the man got a docile look on his face. Theon Greyjoy vaulted everyplace the side of the boat and lifted Catelyn by the waist, setting her on a lurch step above him as water lapped around his boots.Edmure came down the steps to get the picture her. Sweet sister, he murmured hoarsely. He had deep blue eyes and a rima oris made for see a faces, except he was non smiling now. He looked worn and tired, knock about by battle and haggard from strain. His generate out was bandaged w here he had prosecuten a wound. Catelyn hugged him fiercely.Your grief is mine, Cat, he state when they broke apart. When we heard about nobleman Eddard . . . the Lannisters lead pay, I swear it, you pass on pay your vengeance. allow that express Ned back to me? she utter sharply. The wound was still too juvenile for softer words. She could non think about Ned now. She would not. It would not do. She had to be strong. All that will cargo hold. I moldiness get Father.He awaits you in his solar, Edmure separate. passkey Hoster is bedridden, my lady, her fathers steward explained. When had that good man grown so old and white-haired(a)? He instructed me to bring you to him at once.Ill take her. Edmure escorted her up the water stair and across the dishonor bailey, where Petyr Baelish and Brandon Stark had once pass swords for her favor. The massive sandstone walls of the keep loomed above them. As they pushed through a door amidst devil guardsmen in fish-crest helms, she asked, How bad is he? dreading the answer even as she state the words.Edmures look was somber. He will not be with us ample, the maesters say. The pain is . . . constant, and grievous.A blind rage filled her, a rage at all the innovation at her br different Edmure and her sister Lysa, at the Lannisters, at the maesters, at Ned and her father and the wild gods who would take them both away from her. You should piss told me, she said. You should moderate sent word as soon as you knew.He forbade it. He did not want his enemies to chicane that he was dying. With the realm so troubled, he fe ard that if the Lannisters hazard how frail he was . . . . . . they readiness ravish? Catelyn elaborationed, hard. It was your doing, yours, a sh ar whispered inwardly her. If you had not taken it upon yourself to seize the dwarf . . .They climbed the spiral stair in silence.The keep was three-sided, like Riverrun itself, and ecclesiastic Hosters solar was triangular as well, with a stone balcony that jutted out to the east like the prow of nearly great sandstone ship. From in that respect the shaper of the citadel could look down on his walls and battlements, and beyond, to where the amnionic fluid met. They had ext oddment her fathers bed out onto the balcony. He likes to sit in the sun and stock ticker the rivers, Edmure explained. Father, dupe who Ive brought. Cat has have to acquire you . . . Hoster Tully had endlessly been a big man proud and broad in his youth, hardy as he grew older. no(prenominal) he seemed shrunken, the muscle and meat melted forward his bones. heretofore his face sagged. The last epoch Catelyn had seen him, his hair and beard had been brown, well move with grey. Now they had gone white as snow.His eyes opened to the sound of Edmures voice. scummy cat, he murmured in a voice thin and wispy and wracked by pain. My little cat. A tremulous smile moved(p) his face as his hand groped for hers. I watched for you . . . I s abode leave you to talk, her brother said, nec top executive their maestro father gently on the brow in the lea d he withdrew.Catelyn knelt and took her fathers hand in hers. It was a big hand, that fleshless now, the bones moving loosely under the skin, all the strength gone from it. You should subscribe to told me, she said. A rider, a raven . . . Riders argon taken, questioned, he answered. Ravens are brought down . . . A spasm of pain took him, and his fingers clutched hers hard. The crabs are in my belly . . . pinching, always pinching. daylight and night. They have fierce claws, the crabs. Maester Vyman makes me dreamwine, milk of the poppy . . . I rest a lot . . . and I wanted to be convolute up to see you, when you came. I was afraid . . . when the Lannisters took your brother, the camps all around us . . . was afraid I would go, forward I could see you again . . . I was afraid . . . Im here, Father, she said. With Robb, my word of honor. Hell want to see you too.Your boy, he whispered. He had my eyes, I look upon . . . He did, and does. And weve brought you Jaime Lannister , in irons. Riverrun is free again, Father. nobleman Hoster smiled. I byword. Last night, when it began, I told them . . . had to see. They carried me to the gatehouse . . . watched from the battlements. Ah, that was graceful . . . the torches came in a wave, I could hear the cries floating across the river . . . sweet cries . . . when that beleaguering tower went up, gods . . . would have died then, and glad, if wholly I could have seen you children first. Was it your boy who did it? Was it your Robb?Yes, Catelyn said, fiercely proud. It was Robb . . . and Brynden. Your brother is here as well, my lord.Him. Her fathers voice was a faint whisper. The Blackfish . . . came back? From the valley?Yes.And Lysa? A cool wind moved through his thin white hair. Gods be good, your sister . . . did she come as well?He sounded so full of fore seek and yearning that it was hard to bear witness the truth. No. Im sorry . . . Oh. His face fell, and whatsoever light went out of his eyes. Id hoped I would have wish to see her, in the first place . . . Shes with her son, in the eyry. original Hoster gave a weary nod. master key Robert now, poor Arryns gone . . . I remember . . . wherefore did she not come with you?She is f proper(ip)ened, my lord. In the Eyrie she feels safe. She kissed his wrinkled brow. Robb will be waiting. Will you see him? And Brynden?Your son, he whispered. Yes. Cats child . . . he had my eyes, I remember. When he was born. Bring him . . . yes.And your brother?Her father glanced out over the rivers. Blackfish, he said. Has he conjoin yet? taken some . . . girl to wife? nonetheless on his deathbed, Catelyn legal opinion sadly. He has not wed. You know that, Father. Nor will he ever.I told him . . . commanded him. Marry I was his lord. He knows. My right, to make his match. A good match. A Redwyne. former(a) House. Sweet girl, pretty . . . freckles . . . Bethany, yes. Poor child. calm down waiting. Yes. Still . . . Bethany Redwyne wed ennobl e rowan years ago, Catelyn reminded him. She has three children by him. redden so, professional Hoster muttered. Even so. Spit on the girl. The Redwynes. Spit on me. His lord, his brother . . . that Blackfish. I had other offers. schoolmaster Brackens girl. Walder Frey . . . any of three, he said . . . Has he wed? Anyone? Anyone?No one, Catelyn said, yet he has come umteen leagues to see you, fighting his way back to Riverrun. I would not be here now, if Ser Brynden had not helped us.He was ever a warrior, her father husked. That he could do. Knight of the Gate, yes. He leaned back and closed his eyes, inutterably weary. Send him. Later. Ill sleep now. Too low-spirited to fight. Send him up later, the Blackfish . . . Catelyn kissed him gently, smoothed his hair, and left(p) him at that place in the shade of his keep, with his rivers flowing beneath. He was asleep onward she left the solar.When she dispeled to the lower bailey, Ser Brynden Tully stood on the water stairs wit h arch boots, tal baron with the captain of Riverruns guards. He came to her at once. Is heDying, she said. As we feared.Her uncles craggy face showed his pain plain. He ran his fingers through his midst grey hair. Will he see me?She nodded. He says he is too sick to fight.Brynden Blackfish chuckled. I am too old a soldier to count that. Hoster will be chiding me about the Redwyne girl even as we light his funeral pyre, damn his bones. Catelyn smiled, knowing it was true. I do not see Robb.He went with Greyjoy to the hall, I believe.Theon Greyjoy was seated on a remove in Riverruns Great Hall, enjoying a tusk of ale and regaling her fathers garrison with an account of the slaughter in the susurrant Wood. Some tried to flee, scarcely wed pinched the valley shut at both ends, and we rode out of the darkness with sword and lance. The Lannisters must have thought the Others themselves were on them when that wolf of Robbs got in among them. I saw him tear one mans arm from his sho ulder, and their horses went mad at the scent of him. I couldnt tell you how many men were thrownTheon, she interrupted, where might I find my son?Lord Robb went to visit the godswood, my lady.It was what Ned would have done. He is his fathers son as much as mine, I must remember. Oh, gods, Ned . . .She found Robb beneath the cat valium canopy of leaves, surrounded by tall redwoods and great old elms, kneeling before the heart tree, a slender weirwood with a face much sad than fierce. His longsword was before him, the point thrust in the earth, his gauntleted hands clasped around the hilt. Around him others knelt Greatjon Umber, Rickard Karstark, Maege Mormont, Galbart G cutr, and much. Even Tytos Blackwood was among them, the great raven cloak fanned out behind him. These are the ones who keep the old gods, she realized. She asked herself what gods she kept these days, and could not find an answer.It would not do to break up them at their prayers. The gods must have their cal lable . . . even cruel gods who would take Ned from her, and her lord father as well. So Catelyn waited. The river wind moved through the high branches, and she could see the Wheel Tower to her right, ivy go up its side. As she stood in that respect, all the memories came fill up back to her. Her father had taught her to ride amongst these trees, and that was the elm that Edmure had fallen from when he broke his arm, and over there, beneath that bower, she and Lysa had operateed at hugging with Petyr.She had not thought of that in years. How young they all had beenshe no older than Sansa, Lysa jr. than Arya, and Petyr younger still, yet eager. The girls had traded him between them, sober and giggling by turns. It came back to her so vividly she could close feel his sweaty fingers on her shoulders and taste the mint on his breath. in that location was always mint growing in the godswood, and Petyr had wish to chew it. He had been such a bold little boy, always in trouble. He tried to put his idiom in my mouth, Catelyn had confessed to her sister afterward, when they were alone. He did with me too, Lysa had whispered, startle and breathless. I liked it.Robb got to his feet slowly and sheathe his sword, and Catelyn found herself wondering whether her son had ever kissed a girl in the godswood. sure as shooting he must have. She had seen Jeyne Poole giving him moist-eyed glances, and some of the serving girls, even ones as old as eighteen . . . he had ridden in battle and killed men with a sword, surely he had been kissed. There were tears in her eyes. She wiped them away angrily.Mother, Robb said when he saw her standing there. We must call a council. There are things to be decided.Your grandpa would like to see you, she said. Robb, hes very sick.Ser Edmure told me. I am sorry, Mother . . . for Lord Hoster and for you. and first we must meet. Weve had word from the south. Renly Baratheon has claimed his brothers crown.Renly? she said, shocked. I had thought, surely it would be Lord Stannis . . . So did we all, my lady, Galbart Glover said.The war council convened in the Great Hall, at four long trestle tables readyd in a broken square. Lord Hoster was too weak to attend, asleep on his balcony, envisage of the sun on the rivers of his youth. Edmure sat in the high seat of the Tullys, with Brynden Blackfish at his side, and his fathers bannermen arrayed to right and left and along the side tables. Word of the victory at Riverrun had spread to the fugitive lords of the Trident, drawing them back. Karyl Vance came in, a lord now, his father dead beneath the Golden Tooth. Ser Marq genus Piper was with him, and they brought a Darry, Ser Raymuns son, a lad no older than Bran. Lord Jonos Bracken arrived from the ruins of Stone Hedge, glowering and blustering, and took a seat as far from Tytos Blackwood as the tables would permit.The northern lords sat opposite, with Catelyn and Robb lining her brother across the tables. They were fewer. The Greatjon sat at Robbs left hand, and then Theon Greyjoy Galbart Glover and bird Mormont were to the right of Catelyn. Lord Rickard Karstark, gaunt and hollow-eyed in his grief, took his seat like a man in a nightmare, his long beard uncombed and unwashed. He had left two sons dead in the Whispering Wood, and there was no word of the third, his eldest, who had led the Karstark spears against Tywin Lannister on the Green Fork.The arguing raged on late into the night. Each lord had a right to speak, and speak they did . . . and shout, and curse, and reason, and cajole, and jest, and arrangement, and slam tankards on the table, and threaten, and manner of walking out, and return sullen or smiling. Catelyn sat and listened to it all.Roose Bolton had re-formed the battered remnants of their other innkeeper at the mouth of the causeway. Ser Helman Tallhart and Walder Frey still held the Twins. Lord Tywins army had crossed the Trident, and was making for Harrenhal. And there were two kings in the realm. Two kings, and no agreement.Many of the lords bannermen wanted to march on Harrenhal at once, to meet Lord Tywin and end Lannister power for all time. Young, hot-tempered Marq Piper urged a strike west at Casterly Rock instead. Still others counseled patience. Riverrun sat obliquely the Lannister supply canals, Jason Mallister pointed out let them confront their time, denying Lord Tywin fresh levies and provisions composition they strengthened their defenses and rested their weary troops. Lord Blackwood would have none of it. They should finish the work they began in the Whispering Wood. work on to Harrenhal and bring Roose Boltons army down as well. What Blackwood urged, Bracken opposed, as ever Lord Jonos Bracken rose to verify they ought pledge their fealty to office Renly, and move south to spliff their might to his.Renly is not the king, Robb said. It was the first time her son had spoken. want his father, he knew how to listen.You cannot suppose to hold to Joffrey, my lord, Galbart Glover said. He put your father to death.That makes him evil, Robb replied. I do not know that it makes Renly king. Joffrey is still Roberts eldest trueborn son, so the throne is rightfully his by all the laws of the realm. Were he to die, and I mean to see that he does, he has a younger brother. Tommen is next in line after Joffrey.Tommen is no less a Lannister, Ser Marq Piper snapped.As you say, said Robb, troubled. that if neither one is king, still, how could it be Lord Renly? Hes Roberts younger brother. Bran cant be Lord of Winterfell before me, and Renly cant be king before Lord Stannis.Lady Mormont agreed. Lord Stannis has the better claim.Renly is crowned, said Marq Piper. Highgarden and Storms End support his claim, and the Dornishmen will not be laggardly. If Winterfell and Riverrun add their strength to his, he will have five of the septette great houses behind him. sestet, if the Arryns bestir themselves Six against the R ock My lords, within the year, we will have all their heads on pikes, the queen and the boy king, Lord Tywin, the Imp, the kingslayer, Ser Kevan, all of them That is what we shall win if we join with poove Renly. What does Lord Stannis have against that, that we should cast it all aside?The right, said Robb stubbornly. Catelyn thought he sounded eerily like his father as he said it.So you mean us to declare for Stannis? asked Edmure.I dont know, said Robb. I prayed to know what to do, plainly the gods did not answer. The Lannisters killed my father for a traitor, and we know that was a lie, and if Joffrey is the lawful king and we fight against him, we will be traitors.My lord father would urge caution, aged Ser Stevron said, with the weaselly smile of a Frey. Wait, let these two kings play their game of thrones. When they are done fighting, we can avert our knees to the victor, or oppose him, as we choose. With Renly arming, likely Lord Tywin would welcome a truce . . . and th e safe return of his son. noble lords, allow me to go to him at Harrenhal and arrange good terms and ransoms . . . A ululate of outrage drowned out his voice. Craven the Greatjon thundered. begging for a truce will make us seem weak, tell Lady Mormont. Ransoms be damned, we must not hallow up the Kingslayer, shouted Rickard Karstark.why not a peace? Catelyn asked.The lords looked at her, only when it was Robbs eyes she felt, his and his alone. My lady, they murdered my lord father, your husband, he said grimly. He unsheathed his longsword and laid it on the table before him, the lurid steel on the rough wood. This is the only peace I have for Lannisters.The Greatjon bellowed his approval, and other men added their voices, shouting and drawing swords and malleus their fists on the table. Catelyn waited until they had quieted. My lords, she said then, Lord Eddard was your liege, except I shared his bed and aegir his children. Do you think I love him any less than you? Her voice well-nigh broke with her grief, save Catelyn took a long breath and steadied herself. Robb, if that sword could bring him back, I should never let you sheathe it until Ned stood at my side once more(prenominal) . . . but he is gone, and hundred Whispering Woods will not change that. Ned is gone, and Daryn Hornwood, and Lord Karstarks valiant sons, and many other good men besides, and none of them will return to us. Must we have more deaths still?You are a woman, my lady, the Greatjon rumbled in his deep voice. Women do not picture these things.You are the gentle sex, said Lord Karstark, with the lines of grief fresh on his face. A man has a need for vengeance. declare me Cersei Lannister, Lord Karstark, and you would see how gentle a woman can be, Catelyn replied. Perhaps I do not say manoeuvre and strategy . . . but I understand futility. We went to war when Lannister armies were ravaging the riverlands, and Ned was a prisoner, incorrectly accused of treason. We fought t o defend ourselves, and to win my lords freedom.Well, the one is done, and the other forever beyond our reach. I will mourn for Ned until the end of my days, but I must think of the living. I want my daughters back, and the queen holds them still. If I must trade our four Lannisters for their two Starks, I will call that a bargain and thank the gods. I want you safe, Robb, control at Winterfell from your fathers seat. I want you to live your life, to kiss a girl and wed a woman and father a son. I want to write an end to this. I want to go home, my lords, and express feelings for my husband.The hall was very quiet when Catelyn undone speaking.Peace, said her uncle Brynden. Peace is sweet, my lady . . . but on what terms? It is no good hammering your sword into a share if you must forge it again on the morrow.What did Torrhen and my Eddard die for, if I am to return to Karhold with nothing but their bones? asked Rickard Karstark.Aye, said Lord Bracken. Gregor Clegane laid waste t o my fields, slaughtered my smallfolk, and left Stone Hedge a skunk ruin. Am I now to bend the knee to the ones who sent him? What have we fought for, if we are to put all back as it was before?Lord Blackwood agreed, to Catelyns amazement and dismay. And if we do make peace with King Joffrey, are we not then traitors to King Renly? What if the stag should prevail against the lion, where would that leave us?Whatever you may decide for yourselves, I shall never call a Lannister my king, declared Marq Piper.Nor I yelled the little Darry boy. I never willAgain the shouting began. Catelyn sat despairing. She had come so close, she thought. They had almost listened, almost . . . but the moment was gone. There would be no peace, no happening to heal, no safety. She looked at her son, watched him as he listened to the lords debate, frowning, troubled, yet wedded to his war. He had assure himself to marry a daughter of Walder Frey, but she saw his true bride plain before her now the swor d he had laid on the table.Catelyn was thinking of her girls, wondering if she would ever see them again, when the Greatjon lurched to his feet.MY LORDS he shouted, his voice boom off the rafters. Here is what I say to these two kings He spat. Renly Baratheon is nothing to me, nor Stannis neither. Why should they rule over me and mine, from some ornate seat in Highgarden or Dorne? What do they know of the Wall or the wolfswood or the barrows of the First Men? Even their gods are wrong. The Others take the Lannisters too, Ive had a bellyful of them. He reached back over his shoulder and drew his Brobdingnagian two-handed greatsword. Why shouldnt we rule ourselves again? It was the dragons we married, and the dragons are all dead He pointed at Robb with the blade. There sits the only king I mean to bow my knee to, mlords, he thundered. The King in the northernAnd he knelt, and laid his sword at her sons feet.Ill have peace on those terms, Lord Karstark said. They can keep their re d castle and their iron chair as well. He eased his longsword from its scabbard. The King in the northward he said, kneeling beside the Greatjon.Maege Mormont stood. The King of Winter she declared, and laid her spiked mace beside the swords. And the river lords were climb too, Blackwood and Bracken and Mallister, houses who had never been control from Winterfell, yet Catelyn watched them rise and draw their blades, flex their knees and shouting the old words that had not been heard in the realm for more than three hundred years, since Aegon the Dragon had come to make the Seven Kingdoms one . . . yet now were heard again, ringing from the timbers of her fathers hallThe King in the NorthThe King in the NorthTHE KING IN THE NORTH