Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
❛ beware the patient woman, 'cause this much i know, no one calls you honey when you're on a throne. one of these days a'coming, i'm gonna take that boy's crown.❜
━━━━ 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐓 𝐀𝐒 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐁'𝐒 army is on the move, moving towards the large castle that seated House Whent long before Aegon's Conquest. The dark ruins of the old castle towers in front of them, and Robb and Roose watch on as Stark banners and liegemen ride onwards. "We should set the siege lines a thousand yards from Harrenhal," Roose suggests to his king.
"There won't be a siege," Robb tells him, "the Mountain can't defend a ruin."
"I imagine the Mountain will defend whatever Tywin Lannister tells him to defend," Roose remarks, and Robb realizes that he might be just right. The Mountain always seemed like he was drugged so he will just follow orders without complaint.
"The Lannisters have been running from us since Oxcross. I'd love a fight. The men would love a fight. I don't think we're going to get one." Robb watches as his wife talks to Great Jon Umber, and when he feels that bit of jealousy rising in his heart, he shakes it away, realizing that he's done much worse. Robb and Roose ride away towards Harrenhall.
***
VHAEHRYS EARNED THE RESPECT of her husband's army after burning Talisa to ashes, and she truly wondered if it was genuine or if it was out of fear. She didn't want to be feared by her allies. She talked to Great Jon and realized that he was a pretty wondrous company, once you get past his temper, and that you merely had to win his respect in order for him to be good to you. He was fierce, showcasing his courage when Greywind bit off two fingers and laughed. "What about you, Your Grace?" The older man asked her as they rode towards Harrenhal. "What are your thoughts of the past? Do you wish to go back to Valyria and see where your family comes from?"
"I believe that one must not linger in the past," answered Vhaherys, taking a deep breath. "The longer you stay, the more your future becomes uncertain. Your past does and doesn't define you. Your past is what gives you your rights, from a throne to an acre of land. But your past doesn't define who you are. Some of my ancestors went mad, a few at early ages. Do you see me going mad, Lord Umber?"
Greatjon stopped, stared deep into Vhaehrys' violet eyes, and smirked. "No, but I see you making a fool out of Robb." He laughed his loud, boisterous laugh, hugging his belly as he did. Vhaehrys couldn't help but laugh alongside him, a beautiful laugh that always reminded Robb of the most comforting things in his life.
***
ROBB'S FORCES ARRIVE AT HARRENHAL, and Robb surveys a yard that is littered with bodies, flies loitering around them, Rickard Karstark and Roose Bolton enter behind him. "Two hundred Northmen slaughtered like sheep," Kastark tells Roose as they watch their king stop and scan the area.
"The dead will be repaired, my friend," Roose replies. "For them, and for your sons." Rickard looks over at Roose, "Will it? They rot in the ground while their killer runs free."
"The Kingslayer won't remain free for long. My best hunters are after him."
Robb and Catelyn continue to walk the courtyard, Catelyn stopping in front of a corpse propped up against a section of wooden spikes, looking down at both the blade in his heart and the sigil. A silver eagle on a blue field. She knew it like the back of her hand. "A Mallister?" Robb looks at it.
"Ser Jeremy. My father's bannerman."
Robb looks over at Rickard and Roose and they exit, Robb glancing around the walls and courtyard, seeing his men lined up around him. "Find her a chamber that will serve as a cell," he tells one of his bannermen. The Stark soldier nods and leaves, Catelyn looking down as she is taken away by a group of soldiers. "She's your mother," he hears his wife's voice behind him.
"She freed Jaime Lannister. The Lannisters robbed them of their sons and she robbed them of their justice." Someone coughs nearby and Vhaehrys moves towards him, and she hears him constantly ask for water. A nurse walks up to them, surveying the Maester for any signs of wounds, which she finds one by his neck, "This needs to be cleaned and closed." Vhaehrys gives some of her water to him from her waterskin, to which the man gulps a few hearty mouthfuls.
"What's your name, friend?" Robb asks.
"Qyburn."
"You're lucky to be alive," the nurse tells him as she sets to cleaning his wound.
Qyburn raises an eyebrow. "Lucky?" A bird caws at the nurse as she pressed a cloth to the Maester's neck.
*** "WHAT IS YOUR DREAM?" Robb asks Vhaehrys as they dine together in one of the chambers of the castle. Vhaehrys picks at her carrots as she contemplates her answer, looking up at the ceiling as if it will drop an idea into the head. Once she found something, she looked back at him, and a fire that only Targaryens could possess burns in her eyes.
"To kill the Lannisters and put the Targaryen and Stark names on the Iron Throne."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
