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By the time more than ten thousand northern soldiers eager for merit reached Sarsfield's gate, the battle Robb and Bloodwind had fought alone was already over.
Of the nearly three hundred defenders who had packed the gate, fewer than seventy remained alive. The rest lay scattered across the ground, some torn apart, others frozen into lifelike statues of ice.
Since gaining Link, Robb's fighting strength had moved beyond any ordinary measure. Common soldiers could threaten him only by throwing enough bodies at him to exhaust Bloodwind's magic.
The surrendered Westerlands soldiers who had recently joined him saw the slaughter at the gate and were shaken to the bone. Under the urging of northern veterans, they carefully skirted around Robb, who looked like a blood-drenched warlord, and rushed into the castle with excited shouts.
This battle gave Robb and Bloodwind more than four hundred blood pact points. Most were assigned to Magic, with a smaller portion to Physique, and Bloodwind grew stronger again.
That was the terrifying part of the blood pact.
The more Robb and Bloodwind fought, the stronger they became.
From siege to occupation, Sarsfield changed hands in less than half a day. The direwolf banner flew from the highest point of the castle.
Because Lord Sarsfield had prepared for a scorched-earth defense, the northern army found a fair amount of stored grain inside. The many smallfolk who had been hidden in the castle were gathered and sent east toward the Riverlands.
In Robb's plan for occupying the Westerlands, most of the land would eventually be granted to soldiers who had fought bravely for him. A small number would first become landed knights, serving as living examples to spur the rest of the army forward.
New laws meant little if no one benefited from them.
After mixing several hundred captured Sarsfield defenders into the army, Robb continued his march. His next targets in the northern Westerlands were Ashemark and the Crag.
In King's Landing, the gate once known as the Mud Gate had been rebuilt and widened. At Cersei's command, its proper name, the River Gate, had been restored.
"Move aside! Clear the road!"
Near dusk, a large party of Lannister cavalry rode out through the River Gate, shouting at merchants and smallfolk along the roseroad. The Gold Cloaks on duty hurried to help them keep order, eager to please the Lannisters.
Hooves sounded on stone.
Tywin Lannister rode out on a white warhorse.
He wore a finely made dark leather coat with a turned collar, cut to the knee and fitted perfectly. Even those who knew nothing of clothing could see its cost. On the left side of the collar, a roaring lion had been embroidered in gold thread with exquisite care.
"Lord Tywin!"
Gold Cloaks, merchants, and smallfolk recognized him at once and bowed.
Tywin inclined his head, then turned to rebuke the captain of his own cavalry.
"What are you doing? Half the gate would have been enough. If you block it entirely, how are the people supposed to enter and leave the city?"
"Yes, my lord. My mistake. It will be corrected at once."
The captain understood immediately that Lord Tywin was shaping a public image, and he cooperated without delay.
Gold Cloaks and Lannister riders split the broad new gate in two. The left side was opened for the smallfolk, while Tywin waited quietly on the right side closer to the Red Keep.
After a short time, a Tyrell procession flying golden rose banners reached the River Gate.
The door of a large, elegant carriage opened. Olenna Tyrell, the Queen of Thorns, stepped down with the help of the tall twin guards she called her left and right hands.
"Lady Olenna," Tywin said, dismounting to greet her. "It has been many years. You remain hale and as sharp as ever."
Olenna's wrinkled face lifted into a smile.
"Seeing the proud Lannister lion of old gone white-haired does wonders for an old woman's confidence."
Tywin laughed softly.
"Even an old lion still commands fear, so long as it has not lost all its teeth."
He changed the subject at once.
"Did only you come to witness the ceremony? His Grace Renly II and Queen Margaery did not accompany you?"
"They meant to," Olenna said. "Then the boy ate too many cakes before leaving and made himself sick. Margaery is still at Highgarden, looking after him."
"His Grace's health comes first. His goodwill is enough."
"Yes, yes. Goodwill matters more than appearances."
The two old nobles laughed together before the River Gate, as if they were old friends meeting in peacetime.
Then Olenna seemed to remember something.
"Oh, before I left, some people claiming to be your men appeared. I brought them with me. Right Hand."
One of the tall guards went to the rear of the procession and brought forward more than a dozen weary men, women, and children in damaged noble clothing.
A broad young man dropped to his knees before Tywin.
"Lord Tywin, I am Merlon Crakehall, third son of Lord Roland Crakehall of Crakehall. The Greyjoys have taken Crakehall. My father and eldest brother are dead. I beg you to avenge us and take back our castle."
Another thin, somewhat dull-looking youth knelt beside him and sobbed.
"Lord Tywin, I am Steffon Swyft of Cornfield. My father took all Cornfield's strength with you to conquer the Riverlands. When the Greyjoys attacked us, we had no defenders. I also beg you to send men and retake our family castle."
Tywin looked down at the two foolish young men. His face turned iron-cold.
They had just slapped House Lannister in public.
At last, he released a breath.
"Rise. I will take back your castles. And what House Stark and House Greyjoy have done to the Westerlands will be repaid twice over."
After all, a Lannister paid his debts.
The two young men thanked him again and again, already imagining their homes restored.
Once his riders had arranged for the Westerlands families to be taken away, Tywin turned to Olenna with a faint bitter smile.
"Lady Olenna, forgive the spectacle. But Robb Stark is indeed formidable. House Lannister has suffered defeat after defeat. We can no longer stop him alone.
"More importantly, he has become a grave threat to ancient noble houses like ours. If you do not mind, once you have settled in the Red Keep, I will visit you tonight."
Olenna's eyes sharpened.
"For you to say such a thing, I may have underestimated that little wolf pup."
She paused.
"Tomorrow morning. I am old. I sleep early."
"Of course."
Tywin had lost the chance to maintain Lannister prestige, so he chose at once to show weakness honestly. When Olenna signaled willingness to talk, he knew the step had been correct.
After entering King's Landing through the rebuilt River Gate, Tywin sent part of his cavalry to escort the Tyrell procession through Hook Lane toward the Red Keep.
He took the rest down Muddy Way toward the Alchemists' Guild.
"Lord Tywin! The register of unusual persons you requested."
The moment he entered the underground hall, a pale, bent old man came forward holding a roll of parchment in his soft, damp hands.
This was Hallyne, Wisdom of the Alchemists' Guild.
Since seeing Robb's supernatural power beneath Riverrun, Tywin had ordered Hallyne to search for people with unusual abilities.
Tywin skimmed the register quickly.
"Some of these descriptions are interesting. After tomorrow's coronation, summon them to the Red Keep. I will examine them personally."
He looked up.
"How is the wildfire production?"
Hallyne's face tightened.
"My lord, you took more than seven thousand jars of wildfire. I never imagined they would all be used so quickly. We need more time."
"I am not blaming you. Add more hands. Increase production. If possible, find a way to strengthen it."
Hallyne's nervousness changed into excitement.
"Wildfire cannot be strengthened by common materials, my lord, but guild records mention additional magical rites. When I served Wisdom Pollitor, he told me that the first wildfire could melt steel and even create living flame with the power to destroy."
"Good," Tywin said. "Study it properly. If your words become reality, the Alchemists' Guild will become famous throughout Westeros in your hands. I will grant you gold, power, and renown beyond imagining."
It was a promise shaped like bait, and Hallyne swallowed it gladly.
Tywin left the guild with the old alchemist's eyes shining behind him.
At the Red Keep, Cersei and Tommen sat in their places while Varys, the High Septon, Grand Maester Pycelle, and several others reported the procedure for the next day's coronation beneath the Iron Throne.
"Lord Tywin."
"Father."
"Grandfather!"
Tommen, golden-haired and gentle-faced, brightened when he saw him.
"Grandfather, thank you for receiving the Reach delegation yourself. Please sit here."
He gestured to the Iron Throne.
Tywin's voice softened.
"That seat belongs to the king, Your Grace. The Hand sits beside it."
"Is that so? Then all right."
"Your Grace knows how to care for his servants. You will become a good king."
"Will I? I want to be a good king."
"A good king must be willing to hear counsel from those around him..."
Tywin guided Tommen back onto the Iron Throne, then sat in the Hand's seat and patiently began teaching him.
Compared with Joffrey's cruelty and defiance, Tommen was the better king by far.
Tywin had every intention of shaping him properly.
The next morning, still wearing the same fine leather coat, Tywin came to Maegor's Holdfast and entered the room where Olenna Tyrell had been lodged.
Olenna sat at a long table, eating fruit. Her two powerful twin guards stood near her like silent statues.
"Lady Olenna," Tywin said as he drew out the chair opposite her, "what we are about to discuss..."
He glanced at the twins.
"I am closer to Left Hand and Right Hand than I am to my half-witted son," Olenna said without looking up from the grape she was peeling. "Speak plainly."
Tywin sat.
"I saw Robb Stark use magic with my own eyes."
The grape slipped from Olenna's fingers, rolled across the table, and fell to the floor.
"Did I hear you correctly? Magic?"
"Yes. Ice magic. He can freeze almost anything. A wildfire trap failed to kill him. He also has more than a dozen giant direwolves and two woolly mammoths."
Olenna stared at him.
"Listen to yourself. If anyone else said those words, I would have Left Hand and Right Hand tear his mouth open. But because Tywin Lannister says it, I have to consider whether I believe him."
"I was not the only witness. Two thousand Lannister cavalry saw it as well. With your reach, Lady Olenna, you can learn whether I speak true."
Olenna's eyes moved thoughtfully.
"Very well. I will assume it is true for the moment. What does that have to do with Highgarden? My half-witted son did not kill Eddard Stark."
"At present, this is a war between Lannister and Stark," Tywin said. "But as I told you yesterday, Robb Stark is a threat to all ancient houses."
He placed a prepared parchment on the table.
"These are the new laws he has established in the North. Read them."
Olenna took the parchment.
The longer she read, the angrier she became. By the end, her hand trembled.
Rip.
She tore the parchment apart.
"That little wolf pup has courage. Any commoner who earns battle merit by killing for him can rise into noble blood?"
"Lady Olenna sees the danger at once."
Tywin had made one small change in the copy before giving it to her. He had replaced knighthood with nobility.
"Robb Stark's new law can quickly make commoners and soldiers fight for him, even men who once belonged to us. They will risk everything to rise. If he ever takes the Iron Throne, the number of lowborn men raised by battlefield merit will not be small.
"Where will their lands come from? The poor North?
"No. They will come from the defeated kingdoms of the south. To fulfill his promises and calm his soldiers, he will not care whether a house surrendered early or late. We, the old blood of Westeros, will watch lands our ancestors won through blood handed to common men."
Olenna slammed her hand down on the table hard enough to scatter the fruit.
"Divide our lands? Let him try."
House Tyrell had once been stewards to House Gardener, the royal line of the Reach. Three hundred years ago, the Gardeners had resisted Aegon the Conqueror and been burned from the world. Harlan Tyrell had surrendered Highgarden, and Aegon rewarded him with the castle and dominion over the Reach.
For three centuries, older Reach houses had never forgotten it.
The Florents of Brightwater Keep claimed a better blood right to Highgarden than their liege lords. That was why they had supported Stannis against Tyrell will.
Now House Tyrell had used the War of the Five Kings to make Renly II their puppet king in all but name.
Olenna would never tolerate a law that could unmake the very idea of old blood.
Tywin saw that she had been moved and continued.
"I have also learned over the past half year of war that Robb is not like his honor-bound father. For victory, he will use any vile tactic he finds useful. You and I both understand how dangerous a clever man without limits can be.
"By contrast, Tommen I is gentle, obedient, and fond of peace. If our two houses become allies, he will give you everything you desire."
Olenna had calmed again.
"You mentioned Robb Stark's magic, his direwolves, and his mammoths. Can we stop them?"
"Plainly? To us, he is like Aegon once was with Balerion the Black Dread. But his direwolves cannot fly. That means there are still ways to defend against them, and ways to kill them.
"Now that I know some of his abilities, I am gathering people with mysterious powers and storing more wildfire. Next time, I will have the means to kill him and those wolves together."
Tywin exaggerated Robb's power, but not so much that Olenna would despair and abandon resistance.
"Then if our houses ally," Olenna said, turning the jeweled ring on her finger, "how do you mean to attack Robb Stark?"
"At present, he is eating into my Westerlands. Compared with the high walls of the Golden Tooth, I believe the simplest and most reasonable plan is to attack Deep Den near the Golden Tooth and Crakehall along the broad Ocean Road at the same time.
"Most importantly, the Redwyne fleet must contain the Greyjoy fleet at sea, so they lose their ability to shift between battlefields."
Tywin used fruit on the table to sketch a rough map of the Westerlands and explained the plan.
Olenna listened, then nodded.
"Good. I will verify what you have told me. If it proves true, House Tyrell will ally with House Lannister.
"Of course, I will name my terms when the time comes."
"That is acceptable. I believe House Lannister and House Tyrell will become the greatest houses in Westeros."
Tywin rose and offered his right hand.
Olenna took it with her dry, aged fingers.
"I hope I live long enough to see this future of yours."
Their old hands clasped tightly, and a new alliance was born.
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