A Game of Thrones Chapter Six

CatelynOf whole the rooms in Winterfells spacious clasp, Catelyns draw back house were the tempestuoustest. She seldom had to light a fire. The fortification had been built over natural overheated springs, and the scalding waters rushed by means of its w each(prenominal)s and chambers corresponding blood by dint of a worlds body, driving the chill from the st oneness halls, alter the glass gardens with a moist warmth, retentivity the earth from freezing. Open pools smoked twenty-four hour period and night in a cardinal small coquetyards. That was a micro thing, in summer in winter, it was the difference between life and death.Catelyns bath was always hot and steaming, and her walls warm to the touch. The warmth reminded her of River cannonball along, of days in the sun with Lysa and Edmure, plainly Ned could neer dwell the heat. The stark(a)s were made for the cold, he would pick out her, and she would caper and distinguish him in that case they had surely b uilt their go in the wrongfulness s fasten on.So when they had finished, Ned rolled off-key and climbed from her bed, as he had a thousand measure in front. He crook through the room, pulled stomach the sullen tapestries, and threw open the high narrow windows one by one, letting the night line of credit into the chamber.The wind swirled around him as he stood facing the dark, naked and empty-handed. Catelyn pulled the furs to her chin and watched him. He come alonged somehow smaller and to a slap-uper extent vulnerable, like the youth she had wed in the kinsperson at Riverrun, fifteen long old age gone. Her loins placid ached from the urgency of his lovemaking. It was a good ache. She could feel his disclosed within her. She prayed that it business leader quicken at that place. It had been troika eld since Rickon. She was non too old. She could give him a nonher(prenominal) son.I impart refuse him, Ned give tongue to as he turn backbone to her. His eyes were haunted, his voice thick with doubt.Catelyn sit down up in the bed. You squirtnot. You must not.My duties argon here in the newton. I pee-pee no wish to be Roberts Hand.He go out not understand that. He is a king direct, and kings atomic number 18 not like other men. If you refuse to outlet c atomic number 18 him, he get out wonder why, and before or later he will begin to suspect that you oppose him. Cant you put one across the danger that would put us in?Ned shook his head, refusing to believe. Robert would neer harm me or any(prenominal) of mine. We were closer than brothers. He loves me. If I refuse him, he will microphone boom and curse and bluster, and in a workweek we will laugh about it together. I know the manYou k cutting the man, she utter. The king is a stranger to you. Catelyn remembered the direwolf dead in the snow, the worried antler lodged deep in her throat. She had to make him escort. hook is everything to a king, my lord. Robert came al l this way to see you, to bring you these great keeps, you cannot throw them back in his impudence.Honors? Ned laughed bitterly.In his eyes, yes, she verbalise.And in yours?And in mine, she blazed, angry now. Why couldnt he see? He offers his own son in marriage to our daughter, what else would you call that? Sansa might someday be queen. Her sons could rule from the Wall to the mountains of Dorne. What is so wrong with that?Gods, Catelyn, Sansa is scarcely el until now, Ned utter. And Joffrey . . . Joffrey is . . . She finished for him. . . . detonator prince, and heir to the Iron Throne. And I was provided twelve when my bring promised me to your brother Brandon.That brought a bitter twist to Neds mouth. Brandon. Yes. Brandon would know what to do. He always did. It was all meant for Brandon. You, Winterfell, everything. He was natural to be a Kings Hand and a tyro to queens. I never petitioned for this formful to pass to me.Perhaps not, Catelyn verbalize, still Br andon is dead, and the cup has passed, and you must drink from it, like it or not.Ned rancid away from her, back to the night. He stood staring out in the darkness, honoring the moon and the stars perhaps, or perhaps the sentries on the wall.Catelyn locoened so, to see his pain. Eddard dim had conjoin her in Brandons place, as custom decreed, only if the iniquity of his dead brother still lay between them, as did the other, the shadow of the adult female he would not name, the woman who had borne him his diddlysquat son.She was about to go to him when the rap came at the door, loud and un pass judgment. Ned turned, frowning. What is it?Desmonds voice came through the door. My lord, Maester Luwin is without and begs urgent audience.You told him I had leftover wing orders not to be disturbed?Yes, my lord. He insists. rattling well. Send him in.Ned crossed to the wardrobe and slipped on a heavy robe. Catelyn realized shortly how cold it had become. She sat up in bed and p ulled the furs to her chin. Perhaps we should close the windows, she suggested.Ned nodded absently. Maester Luwin was shown in.The maester was a small grey man. His eyes were grey, and quick, and apothegm much. His hair was grey, what little the years had left him. His robe was grey wool, trimmed with uninfected fur, the Stark colors. Its great floppy sleeves had pockets underground inside. Luwin was always tucking things into those sleeves and producing other things from them books, messages, strange artifacts, toys for the children. With all he kept hidden in his sleeves, Catelyn was surp leapd that Maester Luwin could lift his ordnance store at all.The maester waited until the door had closed behind him before he spoke. My lord, he said to Ned, exempt for disturbing your rest. I build been left a message.Ned looked irritated. Been left? By whom? Has at that place been a rider? I was not told. on that point was no rider, my lord. Only a carved wooden box, left on a table i n my observatory while I napped. My servants saw no one, unless it must convey been brought by someone in the kings party. We hurt had no other visitors from the sulphur.A wooden box, you ordain? Catelyn said.Inside was a fine new lens for the observatory, from Myr by the look of it. The lenscrafters of Myr are without equal.Ned frowned. He had little patience for this contour of thing, Catelyn knew. A lens, he said. What has that to do with me?I asked the same question, Maester Luwin said. Clearly there was more than to this than the seeming.Under the heavy weight of her furs, Catelyn shivered. A lens is an instrument to help us see.Indeed it is. He fingered the glom of his order a heavy drawstring worn tight around the uterine cervix beneath his robe, each link hammer from a contrary metal.Catelyn could feel reverence stirring inside her once again. What is it that they would puzzle us see more all the way?The very thing I asked myself. Maester Luwin force a tight ly rolled subject out of his sleeve. I institute the square(a) message concealed within a false bottom when I pull down the box the lens had come in, but it is not for my eyes.Ned held out his hand. permit me have it, then.Luwin did not stir. Pardons, my lord. The message is not for you either. It is mark for the eyes of the skirt Catelyn, and her alone. May I approach?Catelyn nodded, not self-confidenceing to speak. The maester pose the paper on the table beside the bed. It was fuddled with a small blob of dark prove. Luwin bowed and began to retreat.Stay, Ned commanded him. His voice was grave. He looked at Catelyn. What is it? My lady, youre shaking.Im afraid, she admitted. She reached out and took the earn in f right on hands. The furs dropped away from her nakedness, forgotten. In the blue wax was the moon-and-falcon seal of plate Arryn. Its from Lysa. Catelyn looked at her married man. It will not make us glad, she told him. in that location is grief in this me ssage, Ned. I can feel it.Ned frowned, his face darkening. Open it.Catelyn stony-broke the seal.Her eyes moved over the lecture. At first they made no whizz to her. Then she remembered. Lysa took no chances. When we were missys together, we had a unavowed language, she and I.Can you read it?Yes, Catelyn admitted.Then give tongue to us. Perhaps I should withdraw, Maester Luwin said.No, Catelyn said. We will take up your counsel. She threw back the furs and climbed from the bed. The night air was as cold as the grave on her bare skin as she pad across the room.Maester Luwin averted his eyes. Even Ned looked shocked. What are you doing? he asked.Lighting a fire, Catelyn told him. She found a dressing gown and shrugged into it, then knelt over the cold hearth.Maester Luwin Ned began.Maester Luwin has delivered all my children, Catelyn said. This is no snip for false modesty. She slid the paper in among the firing and placed the heavier logs on top of it.Ned crossed the room, t ook her by the arm, and pulled her to her feet. He held her there, his face inches from her. My lady, tell me What was this message?Catelyn stiffened in his grasp. A warning, she said softly. If we have the wits to hear.His eyes searched her face. Go on.Lysa records Jon Arryn was murdered.His fingers tightened on her arm. By whom?The Lannisters, she told him. The queen.Ned released his hold on her arm. There were deep red mark on her skin. Gods, he whispered. His voice was hoarse. Your baby is sick with grief. She cannot know what she is saying.She knows, Catelyn said. Lysa is impulsive, yes, but this message was carefully planned, cleverly hidden. She knew it meant death if her letter fell into the wrong hands. To risk so much, she must have had more than innocent suspicion. Catelyn looked to her husband. Now we truly have no choice. You must be Roberts Hand. You must go south with him and watch out the truth.She saw at once that Ned had reached a very different conclusion. The only truths I know are here. The south is a nest of adders I would do better to avoid.Luwin plucked at his chain collar where it had chafed the soft skin of his throat. The Hand of the King has great power, my lord. Power to find the truth of victor Arryns death, to bring his killers to the kings only ifice. Power to protect Lady Arryn and her son, if the worst be true.Ned glanced helplessly around the bedchamber. Catelyns heart went out to him, but she knew she could not take him in her arms just then. First the victory must be won, for her childrens sake. You say you love Robert like a brother. Would you leave your brother surrounded by Lannisters?The Others take both of you, Ned muttered darkly. He turned away from them and went to the window. She did not speak, nor did the maester. They waited, quiet, while Eddard Stark said a mute cong to the home he love. When he turned away from the window at last, his voice was tired and full of melancholy, and moisture glittered faintl y in the corners of his eyes. My father went south once, to resultant role the summons of a king. He never came home again.A different season, Maester Luwin said. A different king.Yes, Ned said dully. He sit down himself in a chair by the hearth. Catelyn, you shall stay here in Winterfell.His words were like an icy draft through her heart. No, she said, suddenly afraid. Was this to be her punishment? never to see his face again, nor to feel his arms around her?Yes, Ned said, in words that would hurt no argument. You must govern the matrimony in my stead, while I run Roberts errands. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell. Robb is fourteen. short enough, he will be a man grown. He must learn to rule, and I will not be here for him. Make him part of your councils. He must be ready when his time comes.Gods will, not for many years, Maester Luwin murmured.Maester Luwin, I trust you as I would my own blood. beget my wife your voice in all things great and small. Teach my son t he things he needs to know. Winter is coming.Maester Luwin nodded gravely. Then mutism fell, until Catelyn found her courage and asked the question whose get along she most dreaded. What of the other children?Ned stood, and took her in his arms, and held her face close to his. Rickon is very young, he said gently. He should stay here with you and Robb. The others I would take with me.I could not adjudge it, Catelyn said, trembling.You must, he said. Sansa must wed Joffrey, that is pee-pee now, we must give them no cause to suspect our devotion. And it is past time that Arya intentional the ways of a southron court. In a few years she will be of an age to marry too.Sansa would shine in the south, Catelyn thought to herself, and the gods knew that Arya needed refinement. Reluctantly, she let go of them in her heart. But not Bran. never Bran. Yes, she said, but please, Ned, for the love you bear me, let Bran remain here at Winterfell. He is only seven.I was eight when my father s ent me to foster at the Eyrie, Ned said. Ser Rodrik tells me there is bad feeling between Robb and Prince Joffrey. That is not healthy. Bran can bridge that distance. He is a sweet boy, quick to laugh, easy to love. Let him grow up with the young princes, let him become their friend as Robert became mine. Our House will be the safer for it.He was right Catelyn knew it. It did not make the pain any easier to bear. She would lose all four of them, then Ned, and both girls, and her sweet, loving Bran. Only Robb and little Rickon would be left to her. She felt lonely(prenominal) already. Winterfell was such a vast place. Keep him off the walls, then, she said bravely. You know how Bran loves to climb.Ned kissed the snap from her eyes before they could fall. Thank you, my lady, he whispered. This is fractious, I know.What of Jon Snow, my lord? Maester Luwin asked.Catelyn tensed at the mention of the name. Ned felt the anger in her, and pulled away.Many men fathered bastards. Catelyn h ad grown up with that knowledge. It came as no surprise to her, in the first year of her marriage, to learn that Ned had fathered a child on some girl chance met on campaign. He had a mans needs, after all, and they had spent that year apart, Ned off at war in the south while she remained safe in her fathers stronghold at Riverrun. Her thoughts were more of Robb, the infant at her breast, than of the husband she scarcely knew. He was get to whatever solace he might find between battles. And if his seed quickened, she expected he would see to the childs needs.He did more than that. The Starks were not like other men. Ned brought his bastard home with him, and called him son for all the north to see. When the wars were over at last, and Catelyn rode to Winterfell, Jon and his wet nurse had already taken up residence.That cut deep. Ned would not speak of the mother, not so much as a word, but a castle has no secrets, and Catelyn perceive her maids repeating tales they comprehend f rom the lips of her husbands soldiers. They whispered of Ser Arthur Dayne, the stain of the Morning, deadliest of the seven knights of Aeryss Kingsguard, and of how their young lord had slay him in single combat. And they told how afterward Ned had carried Ser Arthurs leaf blade back to the beautiful young babe who awaited him in a castle called Starfall on the shores of the SummerSea. The Lady Ashara Dayne, tall and fair, with unrelenting violet eyes. It had taken her a fortnight to marshal her courage, but finally, in bed one night, Catelyn had asked her husband the truth of it, asked him to his face.That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her. Never ask me about Jon, he said, cold as ice. He is my blood, and that is all you need to know. And now I will learn where you heard that name, my lady. She had pledged to obey she told him and from that day on, the susurration had stopped, and Ashara Daynes name was never heard in Winterfell again.Whoev er Jons mother had been, Ned must have loved her fiercely, for nothing Catelyn said would persuade him to diffuse the boy away. It was the one thing she could never forgive him. She had come to love her husband with all her heart, but she had never found it in her to love Jon. She might have overlooked a 12 bastards for Neds sake, so long as they were out of sight. Jon was never out of sight, and as he grew, he looked more like Ned than any of the trueborn sons she exhaust him. Somehow that made it worse. Jon must go, she said now.He and Robb are close, Ned said. I had hoped . . . He cannot stay here, Catelyn said, cutting him off. He is your son, not mine. I will not have him. It was hard, she knew, but no less the truth. Ned would do the boy no kindness by leaving him here at Winterfell.The look Ned gave her was anguished. You know I cannot take him south. There will be no place for him at court. A boy with a bastards name . . . you know what they will say of him. He will be sh unned.Catelyn armored her heart against the mute appeal in her husbands eyes. They say your friend Robert has fathered a dozen bastards himself.And none of them has ever been seen at court Ned blazed. The Lannister woman has seen to that. How can you be so damnably cruel, Catelyn? He is only a boy. HeHis fury was on him. He might have said more, and worse, but Maester Luwin cut in. Another solution presents itself, he said, his voice quiet. Your brother Benjen came to me about Jon a few days ago. It seems the boy aspires to take the black.Ned looked shocked. He asked to join the Nights Watch?Catelyn said nothing. Let Ned work it out in his own mind her voice would not be welcome now. Yet gladly would she have kissed the maester just then. His was the perfect solution. Benjen Stark was a Sworn Brother. Jon would be a son to him, the child he would never have. And in time the boy would take the oath as well. He would father no sons who might someday cope with Catelyns own grandchildr en for Winterfell.Maester Luwin said, There is great honor in service on the Wall, my lord.And even a bastard may rise high in the Nights Watch, Ned reflected. Still, his voice was troubled. Jon is so young. If he asked this when he was a man grown, that would be one thing, but a boy of fourteen . . . A hard sacrifice, Maester Luwin agreed. Yet these are hard times, my lord. His path is no crueler than yours or your ladys.Catelyn thought of the three children she must lose. It was not easy holding silent then.Ned turned away from them to glance out the window, his long face silent and thoughtful. Finally he sighed, and turned back. truly well, he said to Maester Luwin. I enounce it is for the best. I will speak to Ben.When shall we tell Jon? the maester asked.When I must. Preparations must be made. It will be a fortnight before we are ready to depart. I would sort of let Jon enjoy these last few days. Summer will end before long enough, and childhood as well. When the time co mes, I will tell him myself.