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Catelyn

The woods were full of whispers

Moonlight winked on the tu waters of the strea the floor of the valley Beneath the trees, warhorses whickered softly and pawed at the round, while ain, she heard the chink of spears, the faint metallic slither of chain mail, but even those sounds werenow, my lady," Hallis Mollen said He had asked for the honor of protecting her in the battle to couards, and Robb had not refused it to hied to keep her unhar went against them Robb had wanted fifty; Catelyn had insisted that ten would be enough, that he would need every sword for the fight They made their peace at thirty, neither happy with it

"It will come when it comes," Catelyn told him When it came, she kneould mean death Hal’s death perhapsor hers, or Robb’s No one was safe No life was certain Catelyn was content to wait, to listen to the whispers in the woods and the faint music of the brook, to feel the ind in her hair

She was no stranger to waiting, after all Her men had always made her wait "Watch for me, little cat," her father would always tell her, when he rode off to court or fair or battle And she would, standing patiently on the battlements of Riverrun as the waters of the Red Fork and the Tumblestone flowed by He did not always come when he said he would, and days would oftti out between crenels and through arrow loops until she caught a gli the rivershore toward the landing "Did you watch forher "Did you, little cat?"

Brandon Stark had bid her wait as well "I shall not be long, my lady," he had vowed "We will be wed on my return" Yet when the day came at last, it was his brother Eddard who stood beside her in the sept

Ned had lingered scarcely a fortnight with his new bride before he too had ridden off to ith promises on his lips At least he had left her with iven her a son Nine moons had waxed and waned, and Robb had been born in Riverrun while his father still warred in the south She had brought hi whether Ned would ever see him Her son He had been so small

And noas for Robb that she waitedfor Robb, and for Jaiht who slayer is restless, and quick to anger," her uncle Brynden had told Robb And he had wagered their lives and their best hope of victory on the truth of what he said

If Robb was frightened, he gave no sign of it Catelyn watched her son as hea jest with another, helping a third to gentle an anxious horse His armor clinked softly when he moved Only his head was bare Catelyn watched a breeze stir his auburn hair, so like her own, and wondered when her son had grown so big Fifteen, and near as tall as she was

Let hiods Let hirow as tall as his father, and hold his own son in his arms Please, please, please As she watched hiat his heels, all she could see was the babe they had laid at her breast at Riverrun, so long ago

The night arh to make her shiver Where are they? she wondered Could her uncle have been wrong? So iven the Blackfish three hundred picked men, and sent them ahead to screen his march "Jaime does not know," Ser Brynden said when he rode back "I’ll stake my life on that No bird has reached him, my archers have seen to that We’ve seen a few of his outriders, but those that saw us did not live to tell of it He ought to have sent out e is his host?" her son asked

"Twelve thousand foot, scattered around the castle in three separate cay se Riverrun, yet still, that will be their undoing Two or three thousand horse"

"The Kingslayer has us three to one," said Galbart Glover

‘True enough," Ser Brynden said, "yet there is one thing Ser Jaime lacks"

"Yes?" Robb asked

"Patience"

Their host was greater than it had been when they left the Twins Lord Jason Mallister had brought his power out froard to join thealloped south, and others had crept forth as well, hedge knights and small lords and masterless men-at-arms who had fled north when her brother Edmure’s army was shattered beneath the walls of Riverrun They had driven their horses as hard as they dared to reach this place before Jai, and now the hour was at hand

Catelyn watched her son mount up Olyvar Frey held his horse for him, Lord Walder’s son, two years older than Robb, and ten years younger and more anxious He strapped Robb’s shield in place and handed up his helm When he lowered it over the face she loved so well, a tall young knight sat on his grey stallion where her son had been It was dark a the trees, where the moon did not reach When Robb turned his head to look at her, she could see only black inside his visor "I must ride down the line, Mother," he told her "Father says you should let the men see you before a battle"

‘Go, then," she said "Let thee," Robb said

And ill give e? she wondered, yet she kept her silence and rey stallion and walked hi his steps Behind hiuard formed up When he’d forced Catelyn to accept her protectors, she had insisted that he be guarded as well, and the lords bannerreed Many of their sons had cla Wolf, as they had taken to calling hi his thirty, and Patrek Mallister, Smalljon Umber, Daryn Hornwood, Theon Greyjoy, no less than five of Walder Frey’s vast brood, along with older men like Ser Wendel Manderly and Robin Flint One of his coe’s eldest daughter and heir to Bear Island, a lanky six-footer who had been given a iven dolls Some of the other lords muttered about that, but Catelyn would not listen to their complaints "This is not about the honor of your houses," she told the my son alive and whole"

And if it coh? Will six thousand be enough?

A bird called faintly in the distance, a high sharp trill that felt like an icy hand on Catelyn’s neck Another bird answered; a third, a fourth She knew their call well enough, from her years at Winterfell Snow shrikes Soodshite and still They were northern birds

They are co, my lady," Hal Mollen whispered He was always athe obvious "Gods be with us"

She nodded as the woods grew still around the closer; the tread of many horses, the rattle of swords and spears and arh, and there a curse

Eons seerew louder She heardas they crossed and recrossed the little stream A horse snorted A man swore And then at last she saw himonly for an instant, framed between the branches of the trees as she looked down at the valley floor, yet she kneas him Even at a distance, Ser Jaiht had silvered his arold of his hair, and turned his cri a helain, his silvery armor obscured by the trees once hts and sworn swords and freeriders, three quarters of the Lannister horse

"He is no e towers," Ser Brynden had prohts thrice already, to chase down raiders or stor, Robb had studied the ht hi "A few hundred men, no more Tully banners When he coer moved an inch to the left--"here"

Here was a hush in the night, ht and shadows, a thick carpet of dead leaves underfoot, densely wooded ridges sloping gently down to the strearound fell away

Here was her son on his stallion, glancing back at her one last ti his sword in salute

Here was the call of Maege Mor low blast that rolled down the valley from the east, to tell them that the last of Jaime’s riders had entered the trap

And Grey Wind threw back his head and howled