Chapter 34
CATELYN TULLY
Catelyn sat in the Sept as she found herself praying tot eh Gods once more. Her tears had long run dry as she prayed to the Seven for mercy. She wondered what slight had she committed that the Gods were punishing her like this.
They had left her helpless as they chose to punish her children. They were innocent. They were no sinners, and yet the Seven had chosen to punish them for her sins.
First it was Bran, and they had taken his legs from him, leaving him a cripple. He had always dreamt about being a knight, and yet the Gods had chosen to rob of his dream.
He was alive, yet a life of pain, suffering and dependence lay for him.
Then word came of the King's death, and word of war came with it.
And now, there were whispers that her own daughter had been taken advantage of by the new King, who had chosen to pray on her innocence. She prayed to the Gods that they were all lies, that her daughter was safe and sound and yet the mere thought of Sansa facing such a tragedy tore her down.
She was her daughter. Her pride and joy. It was her duty to protect her, and yet she had failed in that. She had failed her. She had failed them all.
Suddenly the doors behind her were pushed open, as she heard someone walk upto her.
"Mother," and it was her son, the one who had come South to defend their King, and yet now they were being told that this very King had dishonoured his sister. He had always been a dutiful child, and yet the news had turned him into a man.
"What is there to decide now?" she scoffed, and her throat was dry.
"A letter came for you from Kingslanding," and her eyes widened at that.
"What?" she turned towards him in a blink as Robb nodded, and put forward a rolled missive with an all too familiar seal on it.
"It is from father...."
.
.
.
And so the four of them stood around the table once more, as the drums of war being prepared. Renly and his armies were set to march in a day and the fate of her family lay with their action, or inaction.
The younger Baratheon lord had offered her them clemency and revenge for their inaction, as he told them of her daughter's pains. He offered her lord husband, and her children their freedom, and yet the letters from Kingsladning painted a very different picture.
"So, what do you say?" her uncle turned towards her, and it was only the four of them here, and all of the eyes lay on her so that she may testify to the veracity of the missive from Kingslanding.
"There is no doubt in my mind," Catelyn added as the missive lay unfurled in front of her.
"This is Ned's writing," and her uncle and Edmure exchanged glanced at that, for now the decision had become even more complicated.
"Bur are these Ned's words?" the Blackfish of the Riverlands asked, and she had no answer for that.
Catelyn understood the weight of that question for according to the Spider's words, her husband was now a Lannister captive along with her daughters, and the Lannisters were masters at trickery and deception.
None of them here had forgotten how Tywin and his armies had betrayed the Mad King during the rebellion. He had marched his armies to the gates of Kingslanding and proclaimed himself an ally, only to slaughter the city when the King would order its gates to open.
"Cat," and her mind ignored her brother's whisper.
"Mother," but she could not ignore her son's words as he touched her arm.
"You are the only one who can speak to it," and the truth was that there was not much in the letter to go by. Catelyn had been married to Eddard for decades now, and yet they had exchanged few letters and missives over the years.
And now the entire future of her family lay in her answer, and who she would trust. She could put her trust in the letter in front of her, and Eddard had not denied that an unsavory incident had taken place between her Sansa and the new King, yet he had still affirmed his support for him and asked them to attack Renly's host from the back.
But there were other letters to consider as well, especially the one that had been delivered to her insecret. It came from her sister just like how one had come before, and she had vouched for the Spider's words, as she once again accused the Lannister's of murdering her husband.
It made sense, and she spoke of how the Spider had helped smuggle her out of the city. Ned's letter itself had revealed nothing to her, for she found it no different than his earlier letters.
And so, her choice was simple? She had to choose on who she could trust. Her sister or her husband, who was now a captive under Lannister regime?
In the end, she closed her eyes and made her choice.
"No," and silence hung in the air at her answer, for the implications of it were obvious.
"Those bastards," Robb cursed, but it was her uncle who asked in doubt.
"Are you certain of this?" he asked, as he looked into her eyes.
"Only as certain as one can be," and she could not tell him about Lysa's letter. Her sister had begged her to keep her missives a secret, for it could put her precious Robin's life in danger.
"What do you mean by that?" Edmure cut in hastily.
"Are you certain or not?" he asked impatiently.
"The letter was written by Ned, and it has his seal, but I cannot speak to the circumstances in which he may have written such a thing," she countered, and just thinking about how he must be suffering broke her heart.
"You think he was forced to write such a letter," and she nodded.
"I doubt that," her uncle countered.
"Eddard is not the kind of man who would partake in such trickery. He would not sell out his honor because of Lannister cruelty," and she did not doubt his honor.
"Not for himself, he would not," and she would agree with that, but he was not alone in the capital.
"For his daughters, he would," Catelyn countered, and she knew that Ned loved their children just as much as her.
"If the Lannisters were to put a blade to Sansa and Arya's neck, then he could be forced to write such a thing," she added, and saw Rob's face fall as his fists balled up.
"Curse those Lannister curs," he whispered angrily, as her uncle rubbed his chin as his blue eyes narrowed.
"That is a grave accusation to make?" he asked, and she knew that.
"I know, but all of us here know that the Lannisters of capable of it," she said as she eyed them all, one after another.
"We have all heard tales of Tywin's cruelty. The rains of Castamere, the sack of Kingslanding," and he saw her uncle's lips thin now as she reminded him of Lannister history.
"Kevan Lannister rules the city now, and he is nothing more than Tywin's shadow," and so her decision was made.
"So, what should we do?" Edmure asked.
"We should join Renly on his assault," Robb added from the side.
"With the combined might of our forces, we could take Kingslanding in a dew days. The war would be over," but she was quick to interject.
"No," for if the Lannisters got wind of their plans they could punish her daughters for her actions.
"Why?" Robb questioned, and his face flushed with rage.
"That monster put a hand on my sister. It is only right that he suffers for it," and she did not disagree with that.
"If the Lannisters were to get wind of our plans, they could harm your father or your sisters," she reminded him.
"Moreover, we gathered the army in the of King Joffrey," her uncle cut in as he rubbed his beard.
"We would have anarchy on our hands if we were to turn our allegiance to the younger Baratheon brother," and by all the laws of men and God, Renly Baratheon had no claim on the Throne.
Stannis came before him in the line of succession, but the Lord of Dragonstone had found little to no allies for his cause. He had army, and a rather formidable navy but apart from a few Houses in the capital and Stormlands, none had rallied to his cause.
And for good reason. He was always known to be a dour man, and despite more than a decade of marriage he had no male heirs of his own, though Renly was no different in that even though he was still newly wed to the Rose of Highgarden.
"By law Renly has no claim on the Iron Throne," and it was as if her uncle had read her mind.
"Yet he has the biggest army," Edmure countered, and so they had no good choice.
"We do know that Tywin is marching towards the capital with a second host as speak. The blockade along the Goldroad will not hold," her uncle began as he stood tall and began to move the pieces of the map laid out infront of them.
"Renly may boast of his army and its might, but his victory is not yet certain even if we were to pull back our armies," and so the trouble was great indeed.
"But you heard the Spider," Edmure added.
"He says that the city is in chaos. The Lannisters are loathed by the people of Kingslanding," and her uncle scoffed.
"Only a fool would trust a traitor. The Spider has already betrayed two Kings. What is to say that he has not betrayed the third as well," and that was true, but her sister trusted him.
"I trust him," she added, and her uncle turned towards him.
"Or at least I trust his word," and for good reason.
"Even in his earlier missives, Ned spoke of rising discontent within the city for the King and the Lannisters," and now her uncle raised a brow.
"You trust those letters and yet you mistrust this one," he said pointing towards the most recent one, as Edmure leaned forward and picked it up and began to skim over it.
"You asked for my judgement and I simply gave it. War is your business, make of my judgement what you wish," and Edmure's eyes narrowed.
"He did not deny the rape," Edmure added, as she closed her eyes to hide her pain.
"He does mention that an incident take place," he said turning towards their uncle, the Blackfish.
"He says that despite this, he has reached an accord with the Lannisters and that once the war is over the engagement between Sansa and the King would be annulled," and everyone had read it already.
"So?" she asked, as she saw Edmure looking straight at her. His eyes clearly filled with doubt.
"What?" she asked.
"I just cannot understand it," he began as he put down the letter.
"If he truly is being asked to lie, then why not lie in full and deny the incident at all," he asked, and she had wondered about that herself.
"Why acknowledge it?"
"Because they knew that the Spider would get wind of it," she added.
"That is why they knew that they could not lie about it fully," and Edure shook his head.
"You give them too much credit," Edmure seemed unconvinced.
"During the rebellion, it was the North, the Stormlands, the Vale and the Riverlands who shed all of the blood, and yet when the war ended it was the Lannisters who won," the Blackfish added, as he rose to her defence.
"I am not convinced as well, but at this point I would not put such treachery past the Lannisters," and so what were they to do.
"Still have both of you given any thought to what the Lannisters might do when they learn of our treachery. If the city defences hold for even a few days, and the Lannisters learn that we have betrayed them," and now he leaned back as the question hung in the air.
"What do you imagine will they do to your daughters and husband then?"
And truth was that she did not know, and she was not brave enough to imagine it as well.
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