The Barrowlands

It was cold, Edwyn could admit as much, so very, very cold. It was almost as if his house words had come to life and winter had truly come. Good, he thought, let winter come for the Ironborn and the bloody Lannisters, let winter come for them and let them know never to mess with the North ever again. At present Edwyn and his 4000 men were marching to help relieve Torrhen's Square which had been attacked by Ironborn, three days ago the raven had come, and for three days they had been marching. Edwyn had left 600 men at Moat Catilin under the leadership of Howland Reed to help defend it from anymore potential threats, of which Edwyn thought there would be few considering that the entire Ironborn host under Victarion Greyjoy had been killed during the battle and all of their ships in the Fever River set to the torch.

Edwyn could see the outline of Torrhen's Square in the distance, but couldn't hear the sounds of any battle, that concerned him. Surely the Ironborn hadn't been successful in taking the castle had they? If they had, had Winterfell sent men to aid the men at Torrhen's Square, Edwyn was sure they would have, so why couldn't he hear any sounds of commotion coming from the square?

His concern must have been showing on his face for Lady Maege turned to him and said "I'm sure nothing is amiss your grace, Torrhen's Square is nigh on impenetrable and even if those Ironborn scum have taken it we will be able to outnumber by a large amount.. So they shouldn't pose too much of a threat."

Edwyn grunted and then replied "Aye that is true my lady, but wasn't Moat Catilin meant to be impenetrable as well? And yet Ironborn scum managed to capture it and butcher the men my brother left to hold it. No, I have a very deep suspicion about what is actually happening at the square it appears to quiet for my liking. No northerner would be so quiet if some Ironborn bastard was invading their homes."

Lady Maege replied "As you say your grace." Before she rode on.

Edwyn found his thoughts turning south toward the Riverlands; he wondered how Robb was getting on. Had he managed to smash the Lannisters in battle again? Before Edwyn had left for the Twins, Robb had been preparing for an invasion of the Westerlands and had been debating whom to send to treat with King Renly; Edwyn wondered how that was all going. He knew that if Robb was successful in the Westerlands that that would strike a major blow to the heart of the Lannister campaign particularly if Robb managed to take Casterly Rock. If he managed to do that then Renly and Stannis would have to join with Robb and march on King's Landing as the Lannisters would have lost their base of power. Then they could get Sansa and Arya back.

Edwyn knew that Lord Bolton had taken Harrenhal, that had been in a raven that he'd received from Riverrun whilst still at Moat Catilin, that was good they were moving closer and closer toward the capital and cutting the Lannisters off from their chain of supplies. The only thing about their progress that worried Edwyn was that he was sure that blonde haired shit who called himself a king would probably take out all of his frustration on Sansa, and if he did, Edwyn would make sure that he paid dearly for it.

He was taken out of his reverie however, by the sounds of steel on steel and the sounds of a battle that had been proving elusive for the past hour or so finally came to light. Turning to Lord Glover he said "My Lord send scouts ahead and ask them to report what they find, we don't want to attack those who could be our allies."

Glover replied with a yes your grace and galloped of to do just that. Edwyn turned to Perwyn who was riding next to him and said "Ser Perwyn, are your men ready for battle?"

Perwyn replied "Aye they are your grace."

"Good we may be needing some extra steel very soon." Edwyn replied

As they got closer and closer to Torrhen's Square, Edwyn signalled for the men to stop marching and await Lord Glover's scouts return. As they waited Edwyn debated the various ways to retake the square if the Ironborn had captured it, they could go for a full pitched battle which would give them the advantage as they'd be fighting on flat ground and hand to hand not like at Moat Catilin, or they could split the forces up and attack from the sides but at the risk of having many casualties.

Lord Glover rode up next to Edwyn and said "Your Grace, my scouts have returned and have said that they spotted the direwolf banner amongst those fighting the Ironborn, it appears the Ironborn have taken the castle."

Edwyn's heart began to sink but then he said "How many men did your scouts see for the Ironborn?"

"Around 250 your grace, there would have been more but the rest have been killed by the northern force already there." Glover replied.

Edwyn decided, they would assist the northern force already there and wipe out these Ironborn scum. "Very well, men prepare to march we ride now!"

And with that the northern force led by Prince Edwyn Stark roared a battle cry and ran toward the battle at Torrhen's Square.

Storm's End

Catelyn Stark sat astride her horse and listened to the Baratheon brothers both of whom would call themselves King, bickering like little children. It was rather infuriating.

Catelyn inwardly groaned as she heard Renly mock Stannis's new banners and the red woman who appeared to be some sort of priestess. Honestly the thought of either one of these men as King if this was how they would behave when facing a dispute did not inspire much confidence. Eventually Catelyn had had enough and said "If the two of you were my children and were arguing like that, I'd take you to the knee and hit you till some sense was knocked into you. It does us no good for you two to be arguing now, we all share a common enemy: The Lannisters. If we could join our forces together then we could easily crush them."

It seemed that had cowed Renly, but Stannis did not look happy as he said "Lady Catelyn, I must admit that I am rather surprised to see you with my brother. I would have thought you would have come to me to seek an alliance, for your lord husband did support my claim."

Before Catelyn could reply, Renly cut in and said "The whole country, from Dorne to the Wall renounces your claim, new born babies renounce it with their first breath, mothers renounce it, those on their deathbeds renounce it."

Catelyn could tell by how tightly Stannis was holding his jaw closed that he was none to impressed by Renly's outburst, something that was confirmed when he said "For the mother who bore us both, I will give you one last chance, strike your banners and come to me at dawn and I'll return you your place on the small council. I'll even name you my heir, till a son is born to me."

Catelyn saw that Stannis genuinely meant it, she desperately hoped that Renly wouldn't be foolish enough to reject the offer, but then she was disappointed when she heard him say " See those banners over there brother, the Tyrells and the whole of the Reach and the Stormlands has rallied behind me, explain why I should bend to you, when I can easily win it without you."

That wasn't the answer that Stannis wanted to hear, Catelyn could see that much and when Stannis spoke next his tone was one of iron "You have until dawn Renly, if you do not come then, we will fight and I shall destroy you." And with that Stannis turned on his horse and began to march away, but not before Stannis's priestess said "Look to your sins Lord Renly, for the night is dark and full of terrors."

Catelyn didn't like the way she said that and didn't like the way she felt a chill go up her arms at the priestess's words. She hoped she could atleast try and convince Renly to change his mind before something bad happened.

King's Landing

Sansa felt Ser Meryn's hand hit her again, and this time the force of the blow was enough to knock her down to the ground to her knees. This time King Joffrey had summoned her to court to have her beaten for the fact that her brother Robb had managed to win battle at Oxcross and Ashenmark. As Sansa tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to burst free, she wondered how she could have been so foolish as to have actually thought that Joffrey was kind and caring or any of the other millions of foolish thoughts that she had had about Joffrey and the capital when she had first arrived. Now she dreaded the day she flowered and was deemed ready to marry Joffrey, each day she went to the Sept and prayed for Robb to be successful and to march on King's Landing and take her away from here. It seemed that the gods were only partially listening to her prayers, for whilst Robb continued to win battles, she still remained stuck in King' Landing subject to Joffrey's whims and mood swings.

She felt herself being lifted up and found herself staring Ser Boros Blount in the eye, and quickly ducked her head down she didn't want to see what he was about to do to her. But it appeared that Joffrey took a lot of joy in tormenting her for he said "Ser Boros, I don't think the Lady Sansa had quite learnt her lesson yet, would you be so kind as to teach her again please, but leave her face I like her pretty."

Sansa felt Ser Boros's fist connect with her stomach, winding her and as she fell to the ground again she heard a voice say "What is the meaning of this!"

She heard footsteps walking up towards her looking up through red eyes, Sansa saw that it was the imp Lord Tyrion, had he come to torment her as well?

"Is this how you treat your betrothed your grace?" Tyrion said angrily

"Her brother is a traitor, her whole family are traitors she deserves it!" Was Joffrey's childish response.

"She is to be your wife, have the decency to treat her with the respect she deserves!" Tyrion replied.

He then turned his attention to Ser Boros and said "And you ser, what sort of knight are you that attacks helpless maidens?"

Ser Boros said nothing, but Sansa took some grim satisfaction in seeing the colour begin to rise on his cheeks.

Tyrion turned to Sansa then and said "Bronn could you be so kind to wrap your cloak around Lady Sansa please, the King is done now."

Feeling herself being lifted up by strong arms and being wrapped up and guided toward the exit of the great hall Sansa could only feel relieve that her torment at Joffrey's hands was over for now atleast. So she was completely caught off guard when Lord Tyrion said to her "Would you wish for your betrothal to King Joffrey to be annulled my lady?"

Sansa was unsure of what to say, was this some sort of Lannister trap, she had to tread carefully here and so said the lie that came to her tongue easily "No my lord, I love King Joffrey with all my heart, it is my fault that I have traitors blood."

She hated the lie but it seemed to work for Lord Tyrion asked her no further questions. She hoped Robb or Edwyn could come for her soon, she didn't know how much longer she could bear to stay in King's Landing and Joffrey.

Storm's End

Catelyn looked at King Renly's bloody form and then looked at Lady Brienne who had been putting his armour on him, and she was stunned. The shadow had appeared from nowhere and then suddenly Renly was coughing up blood and had fallen back into Brienne's arms. Catelyn had the vague impression that the shadow or whatever it was looked like Stannis, but she couldn't be sure all she knew was that she and Brienne had to get away before they were discovered like this and accused.

So she turned to Brienne and said "Lady Brienne we must hurry and leave before the other guards come and accuse you!"

Brienne shook her head, but eventually after some more persuading, she agreed to leave but not before swearing herself to Catelyn's service.

As they hurried from Renly's tent and made their way to their horses, she called out to Ned Wull and Mathis Locke who had accompanied her, and told them to get ready to leave. Meanwhile all she could think of was how she was going to explain this to Robb, a potential ally was dead, and it was like the Tyrells would march back to the reach for Robb had nothing to offer them as he was betrothed to a Frey and Edwyn had already married his Frey girl, she could only hope that the Tyrells didn't ally with the Lannisters.

Torrhen's Square

Edwyn cut a bloody path through the Ironborn forces that held Torrhen's Square. It turned out the northern forces that had been sighted by Lord Glover's scouts were in fact 500 men from Winterfell being led by Ser Rodrik Cassel, Edwyn had never been so relieved to see the old knight as he had been then. Ser Rodrik had greeted him and then told him that the Ironborn in the square were being led by one Dagmar Cleftjaw and had originally had around 500 men holding the square. That number had been greatly reduced now, and Edwyn soon found himself face to face with the Cleftjaw himself.

They soon began exchanging blows and were both bloodied very quickly but once again with a quick feint and swing Edwyn found his sword pointing at the Cleftjaw's throat, not waiting to exchange pleasantries he swung his sword up high and then brought it down cleaving the Cleftjaw in half. Thus retaining control of Torrhen's Square for the North.

Victory however, was short lived as the old maester at the square soon presented Edwyn with two letters both of which contained dark words. The first said that Asha Greyjoy was marching through the Wolfswood with 1000 Ironborn bastards to try and fight the force at the square. The second left a horrible feeling in Edwyn's mouth; Theon Greyjoy had captured Winterfell and had declared himself Prince of Winterfell. The bastard.