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come as well?" |
He sounded so full of hope and yearning that it was hard to tell the truth. "No. I'm sorry . . ." |
"Oh." His face fell, and some light went out of his eyes. "I'd hoped I would have liked to see her, before |
"She's with her son, in the Eyrie." |
Lord Hoster gave a weary nod. "Lord Robert now, poor Arryn's gone . . . I remember . . . why did she |
not come with you?" |
"She is frightened, 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. Cat's 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 wed yet? Taken some . . . girl to |
wife?" |
Even on his deathbed, Catelyn thought sadly. "He has not wed. You know that, Father. Nor will he |
ever." |
Page 553 |
"I told him . . . commanded him. Marry! I was his lord. He knows. My right, to make his match. A good |
match. A Redwyne. Old House. Sweet girl, pretty . . . freckles . . . Bethany, yes. Poor child. Still waiting. |
Yes. Still . . ." |
"Bethany Redwyne wed Lord Rowan years ago," Catelyn reminded him. "She has three children by |
him." |
"Even so," Lord Hoster muttered. "Even so. Spit on the girl. The Redwynes. Spit on me. His lord, his |
brother . . . that Blackfish. I had other offers. Lord Bracken's girl. Walder Frey . . . any of three, he said . |
. . Has he wed? Anyone? Anyone?" |
"No one," Catelyn said, "yet he has come many 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. I'll sleep now. Too sick to fight. Send him up |
later, the Blackfish . . ." |
Catelyn kissed him gently, smoothed his hair, and left him there in the shade of his keep, with his rivers |
flowing beneath. He was asleep before she left the solar. |
When she returned to the lower bailey, Ser Brynden Tully stood on the water stairs with wet boots, |
talking with the captain of Riverrun's guards. He came to her at once. "Is he-T' |
"Dying," she said. "As we feared." |
Her uncle's craggy face showed his pain plain. He ran his fingers through his thick grey hair. "Will he see |
me?" |
She nodded. "He says he is too sick to fight." |
Page 554 |
Brynden Blackfish chuckled. "I am too old a soldier to believe 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 bench in Riverrun's Great Hall, enjoying a horn of ale and regaling her |
father's garrison with an account of the slaughter in the Whispering Wood. "Some tried to flee, but we'd |
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 Robb's got in among them. I saw him tear one man's |
arm from his shoulder, and their horses went mad at the scent of him. I couldn't tell you how many men |
were thrown-" |
"Theon," 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 father's son as much as mine, I must remember. Oh, gods, |
Ned . . . |
She found Robb beneath the green canopy of leaves, surrounded by tall redwoods and great old elms, |
kneeling before the heart tree, a slender weirwood with a face more sad than fierce. His longsword was |
before him, the point thrust in the earth, his gloved hands clasped around the hilt. Around him others |
knelt: Greatjon Umber, Rickard Karstark, Maege Mormont, Galbart Glover, and more. 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. |
Page 555 |
It would not do to disturb them at their prayers. The gods must have their due . . . 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 crawling up its side. As she stood |
there, all the memories came flooding 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 played at kissing with Petyr. |
She had not thought of that in years. How young they all had been-she no older than Sansa, Lysa |
younger than Arya, and Petyr younger still, yet eager. The girls had traded him between them, serious |
and giggling by turns. It came back to her so vividly she could almost feel his sweaty fingers on her |
shoulders and taste the mint on his breath. There was always mint growing in the godswood, and Petyr |
had liked to chew it. He had been such a bold little boy, always in trouble. "He tried to put his tongue in |
my mouth," Catelyn had confessed to her sister afterward, when they were alone. "He did with me too," |
Lysa had whispered, shy and breathless. "I liked it." |
Robb got to his feet slowly and sheathed his sword, and Catelyn found herself wondering whether her |
son had ever kissed a girl in the godswood. Surely 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 grandfather would like to see you," she said. "Robb, he's very sick." |
"Ser Edmure told me. I am sorry, Mother . . . for Lord Hoster and for you. Yet first we must meet. |
We've had word from the south. Renly Baratheon has claimed his brother's crown." |
Page 556 |
"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 arranged in a broken square. Lord |
Hoster was too weak to attend, asleep on his balcony, dreaming 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 father's 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 Piper was with him, and they brought a Darry, Ser Raymun's 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 facing her brother across the tables. They were |