cp7

Chapter 6

We were gathered in the Great Hall of Riverrun, in what had become the daily event of my lords and sworn-men trying to convince me to call the banners. Ever since Tyrion's capture, mysterious 'bandits' had been appearing across the western Riverlands, burning and pillaging and generally wreaking havoc. Something that was also causing havoc among my lords. The banners may not have been called, but it felt like every lord north of the Red Fork and west of Riverrun had poured in to complain and plead. I couldn't completely ignore them, and hence this regular morning audience in the Great Hall. There were about a dozen lords, retainers, and a horribly out of place Bronn all crowded around me and the table.

"Edmure!" Tytos Blackwood was pounding his fist on the table. "Edmure, we can't let the Lannisters go unanswered! They must know that we will make them bleed if they dare to cross the border. Give me leave, and we'll attack them back, tit for tat."

Of course, that had Jonos Bracken arguing. "We have no proof it's the Lannisters raiding."

That distracted Tytos from me, as he puffed up in anger at his rival. "No proof!" Sarcasm seeped into his voice. "And I suppose you think this is all just an odd coincidence, and we're dealing with the Kingswood Brotherhood reborn?"

Bracken sneered back. "I didn't say it wasn't the Lannisters, I said we had no proof. You're plan would damn us all. Go gallivanting into the Westlands banners blazing, and the king will think us the traitors!"

"While the Bracken plan is to cower in your castle and do nothing?"

Jonos' hand went to clench where his sword would have been if I hadn't insisted they all leave their weapons at the door. "You question my honor?"

I quickly interrupted them before this could go further downhill. "Enough! Both of you." I gave them a glare as they reluctantly subsided. After two weeks of dealing with these knuckleheads, I thought if anything Martin had underestimated their rivalry. If one of them said the sky was blue, the other would call it chartreuse. It was worse than dealing with children.

"Enough I said!" They looked like they had been about to start up again, so I sent them another glare to keep them quiet. Or maybe it was Bronn looming behind my back, as I had found he was a great deterrent to arguing vassals. "This bickering amongst ourselves serves no one but the Lannisters. You are both honorable men, and the Riverlands are lucky to have you. We are going to need you both in the days to come."

"Sweet words, but you agree with him."Bitterness fairly dripped from Tytos as he pointed at his rival.

I heaved a sigh. "It's not that simple Tytos."

"What is complicated? The Lannisters raid our villages and yet we do nothing." Yes, he was definitely bitter. And his lands had barely been touched as of yet.

Thankfully, Marq came to my rescue. "My Lords, we've not been standing idly by. I want to see the Lannisters punished as much as any man here. More! The Piper lands have been harder hit than any. But Edmure has the right of this, to rush would be folly." He might have been a bit of a frat boy, but Marq was maturing fast. And he always seemed to have my back.

Tytos was not satisfied though. "And what does Lord Hoster say of this? He is content for us to sit and do nothing?"

Jonos looked like he wanted to find a way to argue with his rival again, but then hesitated. "What doesyour father say Edmure?"

"Father agrees with me on this matter." For once, I wasn't even lying. The old man had approved of my course when I shared it with him. "He knows we can't appear to be the aggressor. And we have not been idle either. It may not seem like much, but I've arranged for the victims of these raids to travel to Kings Landing under guard. Marq's Father, Lord Clement, has been making our case to the Hand." That may have been as in canon, but I had also sent a strong guard with them, with orders to put themselves at the disposal of Eddard. It wasn't much, but maybe it could tip events slightly if things in Kings Landing went as they had in the books. An action with small risk, but potentially large reward.

Marq nodded at this. "Yes, just today we had word that Lord Stark recognized the justice of our cause. He has sent a force in the Kings' name to apprehend that beast Clegane! A quest of sorts!" Alright, Marq was still a little immature. I could practically see the stars bursting from his eyes at the thought of marching under the King's banner to arrest the Mountain.

Karyl Vance heaved a sigh at that, drawing attention to himself. "That is good news. And I agree my Lords, that it is better that the Lannisters are punished under the King's banner…" he ignored Blackwood's grunt of disagreement, "but why is the Hand sending out a force, and not the King? What are the King's thoughts?"

Marq looked a tad uncomfortable at that. "My father writes that the king has been away hunting, it has fallen to Lord Stark to rule in his absence." And if I remembered my books, that meant things would be going south very soon in Kings Landing.

Karyl turned his melancholy eyes on me. "In that case Lord Edmure, would it not make sense to lead a small defensive force to the Golden Tooth passes? Just as a safeguard? These things have a way of going pear-shaped very fast I find." Another exhausted sounded sigh, the man reminded me of nothing so much as a medieval Eeyore.

"Ahh. Yes. Well. While there is merit to that idea, there is also risk. If the Lannisters came in numbers, they could overwhelm any force we placed in the passes on such short notice" Yeah, it also just plain old wasn't happening. As I recalled, Edmure had scattered his forces throughout the border regions in the books, and they had been overwhelmed in detail. Part of my determination in not answering these raids had been to assure that when I called the banners, the full might of the Riverlands could be gathered for one large counter-punch.

"That may be wise." Another depressed sigh from Karyl. "Still… something must be done…"

"Well said. You are right, of course. You make good points worth considering Lord Karyl." Honestly, dealing with these lords reminded me of an old job I once had in a call-center. You dealt with upset and angry customers, had to be politely bland in order to diffuse them, and all the while never actually agreeing to anything. Who knew a minimum wage job was going to prepare me for being lord of a medieval kingdom?

Blackwood pounded his fist on the table again. "Words, words, words! What are we doingthough?"

Bracken sent him a withering glare. "We are showing patience instead of charging head-first into a Lannister trap!"

I interrupted before that could descend into Bracken V. Blackwood round one-thousand. "You are both correct." I continued once I had both of their attentions on me. "Lord Jonos is correct that we must act on our timetable, not the Lannisters. The Lannisters want to bait us into striking back, or spreading our men across the border. We will not do that." Bracken looked pleased at my praise, so I turned to Blackwood. "You are also correct Lord Tytos. We can't simply sit back and trust this will resolve itself. We were waiting for the King to make his decision before acting, and now he has." Plus, if Robert was really out hunting that meant he was likely going to be dead any day now, if he wasn't already. "Now that we know the king is backing us, it is time for us to act."

You could feel the tension in the room at those words. Most of them had been pestering me for weeks to call the banners, and I had been resisting. Now, they could hardly seem to believe it was actually going to happen.

"You're calling the banners Edmure!?" Marq was practically breathless. At my nod, he pumped his fist into the air, looking more like a schoolboy than a knight. "Yes! You can count on House Piper Edmure!"

"And House Blackwood!"

"And Bracken!" Jonos had to thunder that even louder than his rival.

The others began to chorus their agreement and assent, the excitement building in the room until I raised my hand to cut it off. It was a bit of a heady moment, but I didn't want to get too carried away. "My lords! I will call the banners before the day is out, but there is still much planning to be done."

"What planning?" Tytos Blackwood was impatient. "Call the banners, we all gather our swords, and then we jam them up Tywin Lannister's bunghole."

And of course, Bracken argued with that. "We will need to wait for the King to give us permission to march!"

Utherydes Wayne, my steward, had been silent until now. "And we will need to bring in supplies to feed such a host if they are to stay at Riverrun for long, my Lord."

I smiled at Utherydes, at least one man was thinking with his head. "You are correct that we must think of supplies. In fact, along with the order to call the banners, we will be sending orders that all non-essential supplies and resources are to be transported north of the Red Fork." A lot of lords would likely ignore that, but with a little luck we could salvage some supplies from Lannister raiders. In fact… "Lord Marq, I am also going to task you with a small force to go out under my own banner. You are not to engage the Lannisters, but I want you to assure that we strip the land of anything the Lannisters might pillage if they march. Make account of what you take… Utherydes can go with you to keep a record… but get those supplies north and east."

Marq had a determined look on his face. I could tell he had been burning for a chance at redemption ever since he had screwed up his mission to Catelyn. "You can count on me Edmure! I won't let you down." The Pipers were also one of the more influential western lords in the Riverlands, so that would hopefully help in convincing others to get the supplies to safety.

Utherydes gave a dry cough to get my attention. "My Lord. I will of course assist where directed. But if such a large host is to gather at Riverrun, you may need me here to coordinate the supplying of it."

I gave the man a small smile. "You would be right of course, except we won't be gathering at Riverrun."

"What!?" That was Blackwood.

"Surely you don't mean to have us gather in the passes of the Golden Tooth…" a worried Bracken.

Karyl just heaved an exhausted sigh, eyes drooping wearily as the other lesser lords proceeded to exclaim and argue.

I waited until the comments and exclamations had died out, before turning to Bronn. The man had taken to being my shadow since I had hired him on as a bodyguard, much to the dismay of Ser Ryger and the guard. "Bronn, would you please fetch Acolyte Robert and have him bring our best map of the Riverlands?" Yes, the apprentice the citadel had sent to aid Maester Vyman had arrived. He was supposed to help in healing my father, as he had his silver link, and continue his apprenticeship under Vyman. As could be imagined, he had not been pleased at all to realize Maester Vyman was defacto exiled, and he was essentially having all the work of a Maester being dumped on him.

"Suppose I have nothing better to do." Bronn had been looking bored out of his skull as the lords were arguing, and seemed almost glad for an excuse to saunter out of the room in search of Robert.

The lords stirred and shifted uneasily as we waited for Bronn to return.

Finally, Karyl spoke up. "Lord Edmure, are you sure it's wise to keep a swellsword present in such high councils?"

The others were nodding their heads, but I cut them off. "Bronn has my complete trust." Besides, I had no doubt with a dozen of us crammed into this room that everything we said here would be leaking out anyway.

They didn't like that, but the protests were muted as they waited. Finally, Bronn returned, Acolyte Robert and map in-tow. Even if I hadn't known the acolyte was a Frey, I might have guessed from the weaselly look on his face. Still, I figured it was all for the best. He seemed to be doing his job well enough, unhappy as he was to be deprived of his expected tutor, and if nothing else he acted as a bit of extra leverage on the Freys.

The lords and retainers were all leaning close to the map, eyes following my finger as I traced it over the Riverlands. I had given this a lot of thought over the past few weeks, but I was no real military strategist. I thought I had a good plan, but I would need the buy-in from those at the table. "My lords. The Riverlands are strong, but we will need time to gather that strength. We want to make sure that Tywin does not catch us with our pants down…" I waited for the grim chuckle to die down. "We also need to be prepared to move in several directions depending on events. So. I propose the following..."

I jabbed a finger at Riverrun on the map. "We leave a strong garrison here, under the command of Ser Ryger." The old knight gave a grunt at that. My finger then drifted across the map to Harrenhall. "We raise a strong garrison for Harrenhall. A thousand… no two thousand men. All the lords and knights surrounding the Gods Eye to gather at Harrenhall." With any luck, that would be more than enough to keep it from falling into Tywin's hands. From what I remembered, the castle's great weakness was lack of men, not the fortifications. If you could put a strong enough garrison in it, it could certainly hold for some time. "Lord Mooton is to gather his mean at Maidenpool and await the arrival Lord Goodbrook."

"Lord Goodbrook? I don't understand…" that was Blackwood, but most of the others looked equally confused.

Marq flashed them all a feral grin. "You had not heard? Edmure sent Lymond east on a quest to hire sellswords!"

Karyl gave a grunt. "That is a stroke of fortune…"

Bronn spoke up with a sardonic tone. "Or common sense. A blind man could have seen this conflict coming…"

"Silence sellsword!" Tytos Blackwood thundered. "Your council is not wanted! This will be won by real men, not mercenaries and sellsword scum!"

"A sword is a sword." Bracken, of course, had to disagree.

"Enough!" Their bickering was driving me crazy. "Every tool has a time and a place." At their reluctant subsiding, I turned to Bronn. "You're well traveled. Lymond has written that he has hired the Company of the Cat. Do you know of them?" I honestly couldn't recall them from the books, but at least they weren't the Brave Companions.

Bronn gave a slow nod. "I know of them anyway. Bloodbeard has a decent enough reputation. There's worse companies you could have hired."

Blackwood looked disgusted at the name 'Bloodbeard,' but I pressed on before he could derail us further "Either way, Lymond writes that they have signed contract with us, and he is arranging transportation. Three thousand strong They will sail to Maidenpool and join with Lord Mooton and the eastern lords."

Marq was getting excited again. "And the rest of us?"

I tapped my finger in the middle of the map. "Word should go to all the rest of the Riverlands. The rest of the banners will gather here." I tapped my finger again on. "Robert," I turned to the acolyte. "Will you be able to arrange for the ravens and messengers to be sent?"

He squinted at my where my finger had landed. "To gather at Lord Harroway's Town? Yes my Lord, I can see to it."

"Good." I glanced up at the gathered lords.

Bracken gave a judicious nod. "A good plan Edmure. That's a good central location to gather." He mused for a moment before giving a satisfied grunt. "I'll head out at once to gather my lads, we'll see you there."

Blackwood was also nodding. "I'm just pleased we'll finally be doing something!" He turned to storm off after Jonos, likely determined that the Bracken wouldn't beat him in calling his banners.

Those two agreeing must have been some sort of signal, for the other lords and assembled retainers began to murmur their agreement and loyalty to house Tully, and then file out of the room. Marq also had his head together with Utherydes, likely plotting the mission I had given him. Whatever else I'd done, I had definitely kicked over the ant-hill.

Finally, the hall was emptied except for a bored looking Bronn leaning against the wall, and a nervous looking Acolyte Robert. I know it was almost a contractual obligation to hate the Freys, but honestly poor Robert mostly invoked a bit of sympathy in me. He clearly hadn't been expecting to have all the duties of a Maester dumped on him when he was sent to assist Vyman, and looked rather like a deer, or perhaps a weasel, caught in the headlights.

Taking pity on the poor Acolyte, I turned to address him. "Robert?" Was it proper to refer to him by his given name, or should I be using his position title? Well no matter. "Was there something else?"

"Ahh. Yes Lord Edmure. A raven came in earlier. From… from your sister…"

"Lysa?" I took a guess. I had written to the Eyrie asking for help. Yelling into the wind I suspected, but I had at least tried.

"Ahh. No. Lady Catelyn. She… that is. I didn't know if you would want the others to know the contents yet… that is… she said…"

Bronn looked amused, standing up from where he was leaning. "Do you mean to say you've read the letter then, boy? Is that common of Maesters? To snoop like that?"

Poor Robert wrung his hands. "Ser Bronn… I'm no Maester… Just an acolyte. There are so many ravens… I was only trying to sort through them…"

Bronn gave a fierce looking sneer at the lad. "You're no Maester and I'm no Ser. Still, I know better than to look through other people's correspondences…"

Robert seemed to be wilting and shaking under Bronn's gaze. I'd known the sellsword long enough by now to suspect he was likely just having fun making the boy tremble. Still, there was too much to do for this sort of japing. "Robert, it is quite alright. The letter if you would?"

Hand shaking a bit, the boy handed over the missive. Cat wrote with a clear hand, and without much of the flowery prose I had learned to expect in Westeros. Yet I read the news with a sinking stomach. This was not good. This was horrible. I should have foreseen this. I should have known this was a risk. It was right in front of my face! Literally! But I had been so busy, I hadn't stopped to think out the consequences of my botched attempt to bring Catelyn to Riverrun. This… this was all my fault.

Something must have shown on my face, because Bronn turned serious, straightening up and hand straying to his sword pommel. "What is it?"

I let the letter float back down to the table. I felt like something had frozen inside me. This was all my fault. My first reaction was that he was my favorite character. But then… I realized he wasn't a character. He was a person. I'd gotten a person killed. I was a murderer. Maybe not a big deal in Westeros, but my conscience rebelled at that. This wasn't a game. This was a real person who should have been alive, but was dead because of me. It was starting to sink in, and I felt like vomiting all over my fancy clothes.

Grimly, I tried to reign my emotions in, turning to Bronn. "My sister writes. There was… a trial. Somehow he managed to convince one of my Tully guards to champion for him." He had always been clever like that. "But it wasn't enough." Cat was enraged, that much was clear in her letter. She had argued with Lysa. But the damage was done. That psycho in short-pants had thrown him out the moon door. The whole world, the whole time-line, was off kilter. And worst of all, I should have predicted this! The minute I saw Bronn here as opposed to with Catelyn. This was my fault! I desperately tried to shove the guilt back down again.

"Who… who are you talking about?" But from the horrified look on Bronn's face he knew. That was the sort of look you got when you knew you had just signed up to serve someone Tywin Lannister was going to see dead. Dead, burned, and a song about it made.

I didn't answer him, so it was poor Robert who finally stammered it out. "Tyrion Lannister… is… is dead."