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Bran

A light snoas falling Bran could feel the flakes on his face, entlest of rains He sat straight atop his horse, watching as the iron portcullis inched upward Try as hein his chest

"Are you ready?" Robb asked

Bran nodded, trying not to let his fear show He had not been outside Winterfell since his fall, but he was deterht

"Let’s ride, then" Robb put his heels into his big grey-and-white gelding, and the horse walked under the portcullis

"Go," Bran whispered to his own horse He touched her neck lightly, and the small chestnut filly started forward Bran had named her Dancer She o years old, and Joseth said she was sht to be They had trained her special, to respond to rein and voice and touch Up to now, Bran had only ridden her around the yard At first Joseth or Hodor would lead her, while Bran sat strapped to her back in the oversize saddle the Iht he had been riding her on his own, trotting her round and round, and growing bolder with every circuit

They passed beneath the gatehouse, over the drawbridge, through the outer walls Su at the wind Close behind cabow and a quiver of broadheads; he had a mind to take a deer, he had told theuardsmen in mailed shirts and coifs, and Joseth, a stick-thin stableman whom Robb had naht up the rear, riding on a donkey Bran would have liked it better if he and Robb had gone off alone, just the two of them, but Hal Mollen would not hear of it, and Maester Luwin backed him If Bran fell off his horse or injured himself, the maester was determined to be with him

Beyond the castle lay the market square, its wooden stalls deserted now They rode down the e, past rows of s and undressed stone Less than one in five were occupied, thin tendrils of woods up frorew colder When the snow fell and the ice winds howled down out of the north, Old Nan said, farmers left their frozen fields and distant holdfasts, loaded up their wagons, and then the winter town came alive Bran had never seen it happen, but Maester Luwin said the day was loo su

A few villagers eyed the direwolves anxiously as the riders went past, and oneas he shrank away in fear, but ht They bent the knee when they saw the boys, and Robb greeted each of therip, the swaying motion of the horse e saddle with its thick horn and high back cradled hihs would not allow hian to feel almost natural His anxiety faded, and a tre wenches stood beneath the sign of the S, the local alehouse When Theon Greyjoy called out to theirl turned red and covered her face Theon spurred his mount to h "She squirms like a weasel in bed, but say a word to her on the street, and she blushes pink as a ht that she and Bessa--"

"Not where lance at Bran

Bran looked away and pretended not to have heard, but he could feel Greyjoy’s eyes on hi He smiled a lot, as if the world were a secret joke that only he was clever enough to understand Robb seemed to admire Theon and enjoy his company, but Bran had never warmed to his father’s ward

Robb rode closer "You are doing well, Bran"

"I want to go faster," Bran replied

Robb s into a trot The wolves raced after him Bran snapped the reins sharply, and Dancer picked up her pace He heard a shout from Theon Greyjoy, and the hoofbeats of the other horses behind hi in the wind, and the snow see back over his shoulder fro He snapped the reins again Sallop The distance closed By the tie of the ood, two miles beyond the winter town, they had left the others well behind "I can ride!" Bran shouted, grinning It felt al

"I’d race you, but I fear you’d win" Robb’s tone was light and joking, yet Bran could tell that so his brother underneath the smile

"I don’t want to race" Bran looked around for the direwolves Both had vanished into the wood "Did you hear Suht?"

"Grey Wind was restless too," Robb said His auburn hair had grown shaggy and unke him look older than his fifteen years "Sos" Robb sighed "I never kno much to tell you, Bran I wish you were older"

"I’er than fifteen, and I’m the heir to Winterfell, after you"

"So you are" Robb sounded sad, and even a little scared "Bran, I need to tell you so Maester Luoke s, dark words, Old Nan always said, and of late thethe truth of the proverb When Robb wrote to the Lord Coht’s Watch, the bird that ca Then a e had arrived froood news either She did not say when she meant to return, only that she had taken the Imp as prisoner Bran had sort of liked the littleup his spine There was soht to remember, but when he tried to think what, he felt dizzy and his stomach clenched hard as a stone Robb spent most of that day locked behind closed doors with Maester Luwin, Theon Greyjoy, and Hallis Mollen Afterward, riders were sent out on fast horses, carrying Robb’s cohout the north Bran heard talk of Moat Cailin, the ancient stronghold the First Men had built at the top of the Neck No one ever told hiood

And now another raven, anotherto hope "Was the bird froe was fro Jory Cassel is dead And Wyl and Heward as well Murdered by the Kingslayer" Robb lifted his face to the snow, and the flakes ive them rest"

Bran did not knohat to say He felt as if he’d been punched Jory had been captain of the household guard at Winterfell since before Bran was born "They killed Jory?" He remembered all the times Jory had chased hi across the yard inat his accusto as he ate "Why would anyone kill Jory?"

Robb shook his head numbly, the pain plain in his eyes "I don’t know, andBran, that’s not the worst of it Father was caught beneath a falling horse in the fight Alyn says his leg was shattered, andMaester Pycelle has given him the milk of the poppy, but they aren’t sure whenwhen he" The sound of hoofbeats lance down the road, to where Theon and the others were co up "When he ake," Robb finished He laid his hand on the pommel of his sword then, and went on in the soleht happen, I will not let this be forgotten"

So in his tone made Bran even more fearful "What will you do?" he asked as Theon Greyjoy reined in beside them

"Theon thinks I should call the banners," Robb said

"Blood for blood" For once Greyjoy did not sry look to it, and black hair fell down across his eyes

"Only the lord can call the banners," Bran said as the snow drifted down around them

"If your father dies," Theon said, "Robb will be Lord of Winterfell"

"He won’t die!" Bran screamed at him

Robb took his hand "He won’t die, not Father," he said calmly "Stillthe honor of the north is in my hands now When our lord father took his leave of us, he told rown, Bran"

Bran shivered "I wish Mother was back," he said miserably He looked around for Maester Luwin; his donkey was visible in the far distance, trotting over a rise "Does Maester Luwin say to call the banners too?"

"The maester is timid as an old woman," said Theon

"Father always listened to his counsel," Bran reminded his brother "Mother too"

"I listen to him," Robb insisted "I listen to everyone"

The joy Bran had felt at the ride was gone, o, the thought of Robb calling the banners and riding off to ould have filled hio back now?" he asked "I’lanced around "We need to find the wolves Can you stand to go a bit longer?"

"I can go as long as you can" Maester Luwin had warned him to keep the ride short, for fear of saddle sores, but Bran would not admit to weakness in front of his brother He was sick of the way everyone was always fussing over hi hoas

"Let’s hunt down the hunters, then," Robb said Side by side, they urged their sroad and struck out into the ood Theon dropped back and folloell behind theuardsmen

It was nice under the trees Bran kept Dancer to a walk, holding the reins lightly and looking all around hi confined to Winterfell that he felt as though he were seeing it for the first ti of pine needles, the earthy odor of wet rotting leaves, the hints of anilih the snow-covered branches of an oak, and paused to study the silvery web of an empress spider

Theon and the others fell farther and farther behind, until Bran could no longer hear their voices Frorew louder until they reached the strea his eyes

"Bran?" Robb asked "What’s wrong?"

Bran shook his head "I was just reht us here once, to fish for trout You and me and Jon Do you remember?"

"I remember," Robb said, his voice quiet and sad

"I didn’t catch anything," Bran said, "but Jon gave me his fish on the way back to Winterfell Will we ever see Jon again?"

"We saw Uncle Benjen when the king came to visit," Robb pointed out "Jon will visit too, you’ll see"

The streaelding across the ford In the deepest part of the crossing, the water cah He tied his horse to a tree on the far side, and waded back across for Bran and Dancer The current foamed around rock and root, and Bran could feel the spray on his face as Robb led hiain, and whole He looked up at the trees and dreaht up to the very top, with the whole forest spread out beneath him

They were on the far side when they heard the howl, a long rising wail that h the trees like a cold wind Bran raised his head to listen "Summer," he said No sooner had he spoken than a second voice joined the first

"They’ve o and bring the shortly"

"I want to go with you," Bran said

"I’ll find the and vanished into the trees

Once he was gone, the woods see round it melted, but all about him rock and root and branch wore a thin blanket of white As he waited, he was conscious of how unco useless in the stirrups, but the strap around his chest was tight and chafing, and the loves to chill his hands He wondered as keeping Theon and Maester Luwin and Joseth and the rest

When he heard the rustle of leaves, Bran used the reins to ed ers

"Good day to you," he said nervously One look, and Bran knew they were neither foresters nor farmers He was suddenly conscious of how richly he was dressed His surcoat was new, dark grey ith silver buttons, and a heavy silver pin fastened his fur-triloves were lined with fur as well

"All alone, are you?" said the biggest of them, a bald man with a raindburnt face "Lost in the ood, poor lad"

"I’ers were looking at him He counted four, but when he turned his head, he sao others behind hiuard will be here shortly"

"Your guard, is it?" a second aunt face "And ould they be guarding, my little lord? Is that a silver pin I see there on your cloak?"

"Pretty," said a woman’s voice She scarcely looked like a woman; tall and lean, with the same hard face as the others, her hair hidden beneath a bowl-shaped halfhelht feet of black oak, tipped in rusted steel

"Let’s have a look," said the big bald man

Bran watched him anxiously The man’s clothes were filthy, fallen almost to pieces, patched here with brown and here with blue and there with a dark green, and faded everywhere to grey, but once that cloak s too, he saith a sudden start Suddenly Bran remembered the oathbreaker his father had beheaded, the day they had found the wolf pups; that man had worn black as well, and Father said he had been a deserter froerous, he re The deserter knows his life is forfeit if he is taken, so he will not flinch from any crime, noman said He held out his hand

"We’ll take the horse too," said another of them, a woman shorter than Robb, with a broad fiat face and lank yellow hair "Get down, and be quick about it" A knife slid froed as a saw

"No," Bran blurted "I can’t"

The big rabbed his reins before Bran could think to wheel Dancer around and gallop off "You can, lordlingand will, if you knohat’s good for you"

"Stiv, look how he’s strapped on" The tall woht be it’s the truth he’s telling"