A Game of Thrones Chapter Fourteen

CatelynNed and the girls were eight days g nonpareil when Maester Luwin came to her one shadow in Brans sickroom, carrying a reading lamp and the books of account. It is past time that we reviewed the figures, my lady, he give tongue to. Youll want to shaft how much this royal visit cost us.Catelyn looked at Bran in his sick spang and fleecy his hair stomach off his forehead. It had gr witness very long, she comp permite. She would halt to garnish it soon. I train no need to look at figures, Maester Luwin, she told him, neer taking her look from Bran. I jockey what the visit cost us. presume the books away.My lady, the kings party had healthy appetites. We moldiness replenish our stores beforeShe cut him off. I utter, take the books away. The steward will attend to our needs.We have no steward, Maester Luwin reminded her. a same a little grey rat, she thought, he would non let go. Poole went reciprocal ohm to establish Lord Eddards household at Kings Landing.Catelyn n odded absently. Oh, yes. I remember. Bran looked so pale. She wondered whether they cleverness move his bed under the window, so he could take in the first light sun.Maester Luwin set the lamp in a niche by the penetration and fiddled with its wick. thither are several appointments that require your immediate attention, my lady. Besides the steward, we need a police captain of the guards to fill Jorys place, a new master of horseHer eyes snapped around and make up him. A master of horse? Her voice was a whip.The maester was shaken. Yes, my lady. Hullen rode s extincth with Lord Eddard, soMy word of honor lies present broken and dying, Luwin, and you handle to discuss a new master of horse? Do you deem I care what witnesss in the stables? Do you envisage it matters to me one mite? I would gladly dummy upcher every horse in Winterfell with my take hands if it would open Brans eyes, do you understand that? Do you?He arcuate his head. Yes, my lady, notwithstanding th e appointmentsIll prescribe up the appointments, Robb tell.Catelyn had not light upond him enter, provided there he stood in the doorway, looking at her. She had been shouting, she realized with a sudden bursting charge of shame. What was happening to her? She was so tired, and her head hurt wholly the time.Maester Luwin looked from Catelyn to her son. I have prepared a numerate of those we exponent wish to consider for the vacant offices, he said, offering Robb a paper plucked from his sleeve.Her son glanced at the names. He had come from outside, Catelyn proverb his cheeks were red from the cold, his hair shaggy and windblown. ethical men, he said. Well talk around them tomorrow. He handed tail the list of names.Very good, my lord. The paper vanished into his sleeve.Leave us now, Robb said. Maester Luwin bowed and departed. Robb unsympathetic the door behind him and turned to her. He was wearing a marque, she saw. Mformer(a), what are you doing?Catelyn had unceasi ngly thought Robb looked want her like Bran and Rickon and Sansa, he had the Tully coloring, the auburn hair, the blue eyes. only now for the first time she saw something of Eddard Stark in his looking at, something as stern and aphonic as the north. What am I doing? she echoed, puzzled. How can you shoot that? What do you imagine Im doing? I am taking care of your brother. I am taking care of Bran.Is that what you call it? You havent left this room since Bran was hurt. You didnt even so come to the gate when Father and the girls went south.I said my farewells to them here, and watched them ride out from that window. She had begged Ned not to go, not now, not after what had happened everything had changed now, couldnt he pass that? It was no use. He had no choice, he had told her, and thence he left, choosing. I cant earmark him, even for a moment, not when any moment could be his last. I have to be with him, if . . . if . . . She took her sons catch hand, sliding his fing ers th stony her own. He was so frail and thin, with no strength left in his hand, precisely she could slake feel the warmth of life through his skin.Robbs voice softened. Hes not exhalation to die, Mother. Maester Luwin says the time of great(p)est danger has passed.And what if Maester Luwin is haywire? What if Bran needs me and Im not here?Rickon needs you, Robb said sharply. Hes only three, he doesnt understand whats happening. He thinks everyone has bedraggled him, so he ensues me around all day, clutching my leg and crying. I dont know what to do with him. He paused a moment, chewing on his lower brim the way hed done when he was little. Mother, I need you too. Im trying precisely I cant . . . I cant do it all by myself. His voice broke with sudden emotion, and Catelyn remembered that he was only fourteen. She wanted to get up and go to him, but Bran was steady holding her hand and she could not move.Outside the tower, a fauna began to grizzle. Catelyn trembled, goo d for a second.Brans. Robb opened the window and let the night air into the stuffy tower room. The call grew louder. It was a cold and lonesome(a) sound, full of melancholy and despair.Dont, she told him. Bran needs to stay warm.He needs to hear them sing, Robb said. Somewhere out in Winterfell, a second wolf began to howl in chorus with the first. Then a third, closer. Shaggydog and Grey Wind, Robb said as their voices rose and fell together. You can tell them apart if you listen close.Catelyn was shaking. It was the grief, the cold, the howling of the direwolves. Night after night, the howling and the cold wind and the grey void castle, on and on they went, never changing, and her boy lying there broken, the sweetest of her children, the gentlest, Bran who love to express mirth and climb and dreamt of knighthood, all gone now, she would never hear him laugh again. Sobbing, she pulled her hand free of his and covered her ears against those terrible howls. Make them stop she cri ed. I cant stand it, make them stop, make them stop, protrude them all if you mustiness(prenominal), just make them stopShe didnt remember falling to the floor, but there she was, and Robb was lifting her, holding her in voiceless arms. Dont be white-lipped, Mother. They would never hurt him. He helped her to her narrow bed in the corner of the sickroom. Close your eyes, he said gently. Rest. Maester Luwin tells me youve hardly slept since Brans fall.I cant, she wept. Gods forgive me, Robb, I cant, what if he dies while Im asleep, what if he dies, what if he dies . . . The wolves were still howling. She screamed and held her ears again. Oh, gods, close the windowIf you swear to me youll sleep. Robb went to the window, but as he reached for the shutters another(prenominal) sound was added to the mournful howling of the direwolves. Dogs, he said, listening. All the dogs are barking. Theyve never done that before . . . Catelyn hear his breath catch in his throat. When she looked up, his face was pale in the lamplight. Fire, he whispered.Fire, she thought, and then, Bran assist me, she said urgently, sitting up. Help me with Bran.Robb did not seem to hear her. The subroutine library towers on fire, he said.Catelyn could see the flickering reddish light through the open window now. She sagged with relief. Bran was safe. The library was across the bailey, there was no way the fire would reach them here. convey the gods, she whispered.Robb looked at her as if shed gone mad. Mother, stay here. Ill come back as soon as the fires out. He ran then. She heard him shout to the guards outside the room, heard them descending together in a wild rush, taking the stairs two and three at a time.Outside, there were shouts of Fire in the yard, screams, running footsteps, the whinny of frightened horses, and the frantic barking of the castle dogs. The howling was gone, she realized as she listened to the cacophony. The direwolves had fallen silent.Catelyn said a silent pr ayer of thank to the seven faces of god as she went to the window. Across the bailey, long tongues of flame pang from the windows of the library. She watched the smoke rise into the sky and thought sadly of all the books the Starks had collected over the centuries. Then she closed the shutters.When she turned away from the window, the slice was in the room with her.You werent sposed to be here, he muttered sourly. No one was sposed to be here.He was a small, dirty man in filthy brown clothing, and he stank of horses. Catelyn knew all the men who worked in their stables, and he was none of them. He was gaunt, with limp blond hair and pale eyes deep-sunk in a cadaverous face, and there was a dagger in his hand.Catelyn looked at the knife, then at Bran. No, she said. The word stuck in her throat, the merest whisper.He must have heard her. Its a mercy, he said. Hes dead already.No, Catelyn said, louder now as she found her voice again. No, you cant. She spun back toward the window t o scream for help, but the man moved faster than she would have believed. One hand clamped down over her mouth and yanked back her head, the other brought the dagger up to her windpipe. The stench of him was overwhelming.She reached up with both hands and grabbed the vane with all her strength, pulling it away from her throat. She heard him cursing into her ear. Her fingers were slippery with descent, but she would not let go of the dagger. The hand over her mouth clinch more tightly, shutting off her air. Catelyn twisted her head to the side and managed to get a piece of his flesh between her teeth. She bit down hard into his palm. The man grunted in pain. She ground her teeth together and tore at him, and all of a sudden he let go. The taste of his blood filled her mouth. She sucked in air and screamed, and he grabbed her hair and pulled her away from him, and she stumbled and went down, and then he was standing over her, breathing hard, shaking. The dagger was still clutched ti ghtly in his right hand, slick with blood. You werent sposed to be here, he repeated stupidly.Catelyn saw the shadow slip through the open door behind him. there was a low rumble, less than a snarl, the merest whisper of a threat, but he must have heard something, because he started to turn just as the wolf made its leap. They went down together, half sprawled over Catelyn where shed fallen. The wolf had him under the jaw. The mans shriek lasted less than a second before the adult female chaser wrenched back its head, taking out half his throat.His blood felt like warm rain as it sprayed across her face.The wolf was looking at her. Its jaws were red and wet and its eyes glowed golden in the opprobrious room. It was Brans wolf, she realized. Of fertilise it was. Thank you, Catelyn whispered, her voice faint and tiny. She lifted her hand, trembling. The wolf padded closer, sniffed at her fingers, then licked at the blood with a wet rough tongue. When it had c bunged all the blood off her hand, it turned away silently and jumped up on Brans bed and lay down beside him. Catelyn began to laugh hysterically.That was the way they found them, when Robb and Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrik burst in with half the guards in Winterfell. When the laughter finally died in her throat, they wrapped her in warm blankets and led her back to the Great Keep, to her own chambers. Old Nan undressed her and helped her into a scalding hot bath and swear out the blood off her with a soft cloth.Afterward Maester Luwin arrived to dress her wounds. The cuts in her fingers went deep, almost to the bone, and her scalp was raw and bleeding where hed pulled out a smattering of hair. The maester told her the pain was just starting now, and gave her milk of the poppy to help her sleep.Finally she closed her eyes.When she opened them again, they told her that she had slept four days. Catelyn nodded and sat up in bed. It all seemed like a nightmare to her now, everything since Brans fall, a t errible dream of blood and grief, but she had the pain in her hands to remind her that it was real. She felt weak and light-headed, up to now strangely resolute, as if a great weight had lifted from her. incur me some bread and honey, she told her servants, and take word to Maester Luwin that my bandages want changing. They looked at her in surprise and ran to do her bidding.Catelyn remembered the way she had been before, and she was ashamed. She had let them all down, her children, her husband, her House. It would not happen again. She would show these northerners how strong a Tully of Riverrun could be.Robb arrived before her food. Rodrik Cassel came with him, and her husbands ward Theon Greyjoy, and lastly Hallis Mollen, a muscular guardsman with a square brown beard. He was the new captain of the guard, Robb said. Her son was dressed in boiled leather and ringmail, she saw, and a sword hung at his waist.Who was he? Catelyn asked them.No one knows his name, Hallis Mollen told he r. He was no man of Winterfell, mlady, but some says they seen him here and about the castle these past some weeks.One of the kings men, then, she said, or one of the Lannisters. He could have waited behind when the others left.Maybe, Hal said. With all these strangers filling up Winterfell of late, theres no way of saying who he belonged to.Hed been secrecy in your stables, Greyjoy said. You could smell it on him.And how could he go unnoticed? she said sharply.Hallis Mollen looked abashed. Between the horses Lord Eddard took south and them we sent north to the Nights Watch, the stalls were half-empty. It were no great trick to hide from the stableboys. Could be Hodor saw him, the talk is that boys been acting queer, but simple as he is . . . Hal shook his head.We found where hed been dormancy, Robb put in. He had ninety silver stags in a leather stem buried beneath the straw.Its good to know my sons life was not exchange cheaply, Catelyn said bitterly.Hallis Mollen looked at her, confused. Begging your grace, mlady, you saying he was out to kill your boy?Greyjoy was doubtful. Thats madness.He came for Bran, Catelyn said. He kept muttering how I wasnt alleged(a) to be there. He set the library fire thinking I would rush to put it out, taking any guards with me. If I hadnt been half-mad with grief, it would have worked.why would anyone want to kill Bran? Robb said. Gods, hes only a little boy, helpless, sleeping . . . Catelyn gave her firstborn a challenging look. If you are to rule in the north, you must think these things through, Robb. Answer your own question. Why would anyone want to kill a sleeping child?Before he could answer, the servants returned with a plate of food clear from the kitchen. There was much more than shed asked for hot bread, butter and honey and berry preserves, a rasher of bacon and a soft-boiled egg, a wedge of cheese, a pot of mint tea. And with it came Maester Luwin.How is my son, Maester? Catelyn looked at all the food and found she had no appetite.Maester Luwin lowered his eyes. Unchanged, my lady.It was the reply she had expected, no more and no less. Her hands throbbed with pain, as if the stigma were still in her, cutting deep. She sent the servants away and looked back to Robb. Do you have the answer yet?Someone is afraid Bran might wake up, Robb said, afraid of what he might say or do, afraid of something he knows.Catelyn was proud of him. Very good. She turned to the new captain of the guard. We must keep Bran safe. If there was one killer, there could be others.How some(prenominal) guards do you want, rnlady? Hal asked.So long as Lord Eddard is away, my son is the master of Winterfell, she told him.Robb stood a little taller. Put one man in the sickroom, night and day, one outside the door, two at the bottom of the stairs. No one sees Bran without my undertake or my mothers.As you say, mlord.Do it now, Catelyn suggested.And let his wolf stay in the room with him, Robb added.Yes, Catelyn sa id. And then again Yes.Hallis Mollen bowed and left the room.Lady Stark, Ser Rodrik said when the guardsman had gone, did you chance to notice the dagger the killer used?The circumstances did not allow me to examine it closely, but I can vouch for its edge, Catelyn replied with a dry smile. Why do you ask?We found the knife still in the villains grasp. It seemed to me that it was altogether too fine a weapon for such a man, so I looked at it long and hard. The blade is Valyrian steel, the hilt dragonbone. A weapon like that has no business being in the hands of such as him. Someone gave it to him.Catelyn nodded, thoughtful. Robb, close the door.He looked at her strangely, but did as she told him.What I am about to tell you must not leave this room, she told them. I want your oaths on that. If even part of what I suspect is true, Ned and my girls have ridden into deadly danger, and a word in the wrong ears could mean their lives.Lord Eddard is a second father to me, said Theon Greyj oy. I do so swear.You have my oath, Maester Luwin said.And mine, my lady, echoed Ser Rodrik.She looked at her son. And you, Robb?He nodded his consent.My sister Lysa believes the Lannisters polish off her husband, Lord Arryn, the Hand of the King, Catelyn told them. It comes to me that Jaime Lannister did not join the hunt the day Bran fell. He remained here in the castle. The room was deathly quiet. I do not think Bran fell from that tower, she said into the stillness. I think he was thrown.The encroachment was plain on their faces. My lady, that is a monstrous suggestion, said Rodrik Cassel. Even the Kingslayer would kick at the murder of an innocent child.Oh, would he? Theon Greyjoy asked. I wonder.There is no limit to Lannister pride or Lannister ambition, Catelyn said.The boy had always been surehanded in the past, Maester Luwin said thoughtfully. He knew every stone in Winterfell.Gods, Robb swore, his young face dark with anger. If this is true, he will pay for it. He drew his sword and waved it in the air. Ill kill him myselfSer Rodrik bristled at him. Put that away The Lannisters are a hundred leagues away. Never draw your sword unless you mean to use it. How many times must I tell you, foolish boy?Abashed, Robb sheathe his sword, suddenly a child again. Catelyn said to Ser Rodrik, I see my son is wearing steel now.The old master-at-arms said, I thought it was time.Robb was looking at her anxiously. Past time, she said. Winterfell may have need of all its swords soon, and they had best not be made of wood.Theon Greyjoy put a hand on the hilt of his blade and said, My lady, if it comes to that, my House owes yours a great debt.Maester Luwin pulled at his chain collar where it chafed against his neck. All we have is conjecture. This is the queens beloved brother we mean to accuse. She will not take it kindly. We must have consequence, or forever keep silent.Your proof is in the dagger, Ser Rodrik said. A fine blade like that will not have gone unnot iced.There was only one place to perplex the truth of it, Catelyn realized. Someone must go to Kings Landing.Ill go, Robb said.No, she told him. Your place is here. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell. She looked at Ser Rodrik with his great white whiskers, at Maester Luwin in his grey robes, at young Greyjoy, lean and dark and impetuous. Who to send? Who would be believed? Then she knew. Catelyn struggled to push back the blankets, her secure fingers as stiff and unyielding as stone. She climbed out of bed. I must go myself.My lady, said Maester Luwin, is that wise? Surely the Lannisters would greet your arrival with suspicion.What about Bran? Robb asked. The poor boy looked utterly confused now. You cant mean to leave him.I have done everything I can for Bran, she said, laying a wound hand on his arm. His life is in the hands of the gods and Maester Luwin. As you reminded me yourself, Robb, I have other children to think of now.You will need a strong escort, my lady, The on said.Ill send Hal with a squad of guardsmen, Robb said.No, Catelyn said. A large party attracts unwished attention. I would not have the Lannisters know I am coming.Ser Rodrik protested. My lady, let me accompany you at least. The kingsroad can be perilous for a woman alone.I will not be taking the kingsroad, Catelyn replied. She thought for a moment, then nodded her consent. Two riders can move as fast as one, and a good deal faster than a long editorial burdened by wagons and wheelhouses. I will welcome your company, Ser Rodrik. We will follow the White Knife down to the sea, and hire a ship at WhiteHarbor. Strong horses and brisk winds should bring us to Kings Landing well onward of Ned and the Lannisters. And then, she thought, we shall see what we shall see.