Page 14 (1/2)

Catelyn

Ned and the girls were eight days gone when Maester Luwin ca lamp and the books of account "It is past tiures, my lady," he said "You’ll want to kno much this royal visit cost us"

Catelyn looked at Bran in his sickbed and brushed his hair back off his forehead It had grown very long, she realized She would have to cut it soon "I have no need to look at figures, Maester Luwin," she told hi her eyes from Bran "I knohat the visit cost us Take the books away"

"My lady, the king’s party had healthy appetites We must replenish our stores before--"

She cut him off "I said, take the books away The steill attend to our needs"

"We have no steward," Maester Luwin reht, he would not let go "Poole went south to establish Lord Eddard’s household at King’s Landing"

Catelyn nodded absently "Oh, yes I rehtsun

Maester Luwin set the lamp in a niche by the door and fiddled with its wick "There are several appointments that require your immediate attention, uards to fill Jory’s place, a new master of horse--"

Her eyes snapped around and found him "A master of horse?" Her voice was a whip

The maester was shaken "Yes, my lady Hullen rode south with Lord Eddard, so--"

"My son lies here broken and dying, Luwin, and you wish to discuss a new master of horse? Do you think I care what happens in the stables? Do you think it ladly butcher every horse in Winterfell with my own hands if it would open Bran’s eyes, do you understand that? Do you?"

He bowed his head "Yes, my lady, but the appointments--"

"I’ll make the appointments," Robb said

Catelyn had not heard hi at her She had been shouting, she realized with a sudden flush of sha to her? She was so tired, and her head hurt all the time

Maester Luwin looked froht wish to consider for the vacant offices," he said, offering Robb a paper plucked frolanced at the names He had come from outside, Catelyn saw; his cheeks were red froy and windblown "Good men," he said "We’ll talk about them tomorrow" He handed back the list of naood, my lord" The paper vanished into his sleeve

"Leave us now," Robb said Maester Luwin bowed and departed Robb closed the door behind hi a sword, she saw "Mother, what are you doing?"

Catelyn had always thought Robb looked like her; like Bran and Rickon and Sansa, he had the Tully coloring, the auburn hair, the blue eyes Yet now for the first ti as stern and hard as the north "What a?" she echoed, puzzled "How can you ask that? What do you i care of your brother I a care of Bran"

"Is that what you call it? You haven’t left this rooate when Father and the girls went south"

"I said my farewells to them here, and watched theo, not now, not after what had happened; everything had changed now, couldn’t he see that? It was no use He had no choice, he had told her, and then he left, choosing "I can’t leave him, even for a moment, not when any moment could be his last I have to be with him, ifif" She took her son’s lih her own He was so frail and thin, with no strength left in his hand, but she could still feel the warh his skin

Robb’s voice softened "He’s not going to die, Mother Maester Luwin says the tier has passed"

"And what if Maester Luwin is wrong? What if Bran needs me and I’m not here?"

"Rickon needs you," Robb said sharply "He’s only three, he doesn’t understand what’s happening He thinks everyone has deserted hi and crying I don’t knohat to do with hi on his lower lip the way he’d done when he was little "Mother, I need you too I’ but I can’tI can’t do it all by myself" His voice broke with sudden emotion, and Catelyn reo to hi her hand and she could not an to howl Catelyn trembled, just for a second

"Bran’s" Robb opened theand let the night air into the stuffy tower roorew louder It was a cold and lonely sound, full of melancholy and despair

"Don’t," she told him "Bran needs to stay war," Robb said Soan 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 the It was the grief, the cold, the howling of the direwolves Night after night, the howling and the cold wind and the grey e, and her boy lying there broken, the sweetest of her children, the gentlest, Bran who loved to laugh and clione now, she would never hear hi, she pulled her hand free of his and covered her ears against those terrible howls "Make them stop!" she cried "I can’t stand it, make them stop, make them stop, kill them all if you must, justto the floor, but there she was, and Robb was lifting her, holding her in strong arms "Don’t be afraid, Mother They would never hurt him" He helped her to her narrow bed in the corner of the sickrooently "Rest Maester Luwin tells me you’ve hardly slept since Bran’s fall"

"I can’t," she wept "Gods forgive me, Robb, I can’t, what if he dies while I’m asleep, what if he dies, what if he dies" The wolves were still howling She screaods, close the !"

"If you swear to me you’ll sleep" Robb went to the , but as he reached for the shutters another sound was added to the"All the dogs are barking They’ve never done that before" Catelyn heard his breath catch in his throat When she looked up, his face was pale in the laht, and then, Bran! "Helpup "Help me with Bran"

Robb did not seem to hear her "The library tower’s on fire," he said

Catelyn could see the flickering reddish light through the openShe sagged with relief Bran was safe The library was across the bailey, there was no way the fire would reach theods," she whispered

Robb looked at her as if she’d gone mad "Mother, stay here I’ll come back as soon as the fire’s out" He ran then She heard hi together in a wild rush, taking the stairs two and three at a time

Outside, there were shouts of "Fire!" in the yard, screahtened 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 prayer of thanks to the seven faces of god as she went to theAcross the bailey, long tongues of flame shot from the s of the library She watched the sht sadly of all the books the Starks had gathered over the centuries Then she closed the shutters

When she turned away from the , the man was in the room with her

"You weren’t s’posed to be here," he muttered sourly "No one was s’posed to be here"

He was a s, and he stank of horses Catelyn knew all the men orked in their stables, and he was none of theaunt, with limp blond hair and pale eyes deep-sunk in a bony 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 "It’s a mercy," he said "He’s dead already"

"No," Catelyn said, louder now as she found her voice again "No, you can’t" She spun back toward theto scream for help, but the man moved faster than she would have believed One hand clamped down over her er up to her windpipe The stench of hi

She reached up with both hands and grabbed the blade with all her strength, pulling it away froers were slippery with blood, but she would not let go of the dagger The hand over heroff her air Catelyn twisted her head to the side and et a piece of his flesh between her teeth She bit down hard into his palether and tore at hio The taste of his blood filled her rabbed her hair and pulled her away from hi over her, breathing hard, shaking The dagger was still clutched tightly in his right hand, slick with blood "You weren’t s’posed 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 , because he started to turn just as the wolf ether, half sprawled over Catelyn where she’d fallen The wolf had him under the jaw The man’s shriek lasted less than a second before the beast wrenched back its head, taking out half his throat

His blood felt like warm rain as it sprayed across her face

The as looking at her Its jaere red and wet and its eyes glowed golden in the dark room It was Bran’s wolf, she realized Of course it was "Thank you," Catelyn whispered, her voice faint and tiny She lifted her hand, treers, then licked at the blood with a wet rough tongue When it had cleaned all the blood off her hand, it turned away silently and juan 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 cha hot bath and washed the blood off her with a soft cloth

Afterward Maester Luwin arrived to dress her wounds The cuts in her fingers went deep, al where he’d pulled out a handful of hair The ave her milk of the poppy to help her sleep

Finally she closed her eyes

When she opened theain, they told her that she had slept four days Catelyn nodded and sat up in bed It all see since Bran’s fall, a terrible drearief, but she had the pain in her hands to reht-headed, yet strangely resolute, as if a great weight had lifted fro me some bread and honey," she told her servants, "and take word to Maester Luwin that " 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 husband’s ward Theon Greyjoy, and lastly Hallis Mollen, a uardsuard, Robb said Her son was dressed in boiled leather and ring at his waist

"Who was he?" Catelyn asked them

"No one knows his name," Hallis Mollen told her "He was no man of Winterfell, m’lady, but some says they seen him here and about the castle these past feeeks"

"One of the king’s men, then," she said, "or one of the Lannisters’ He could have waited behind when the others left"