As the familiar outlines of Riverrun came into view, rising from the river, Alyssa Tully sighed in relief, spirits lifted by the prospect of sleeping in a proper bed. It would be the first time she had done so in weeks, after leaving Lannisport the Tully hosts had marched almost without break, aware that Joffrey would not take well to them arriving late to bend the knee. Karyl Vance and his cousin Ellery, along with Ser Marq Piper, had taken their forces south-east along the Gold Road, while Alyssa herself, along with Ser Patrek Mallister moved up the River Road, both groups headed for Riverrun.
After a moon on the road they had reached the Golden Tooth, where a raven bearing a royal command halted them in their tracks. King Joffrey had ordered the Tully forces to wait until Rickard Karstark's escort arrived, and a solemn Lady Alysanne Lefford took the moment to inform Alyssa and Ser Patrek of all that had transpired since they had left Lannisport. Against her will, Alyssa found tears rising at the news of her nephew's death but blinked them away, furious at her weakness and reminding herself that Robb was dead through his own folly.
Though Ser Patrek took Lady Alysanne up on her offer of hospitality while they waited; Alyssa demurred, unsure of the Lady of the Golden Tooth's motives. Not only had the Tully forces slain Lady Alysanne's father not a year past, but it was at the Golden Tooth that Alyssa obtained the information she used to devastate the West. That was something Lord Tywin would not forgive, and the Lefford lady knew that all too well. Thousands of men surrounding her keep or not, Lady Lefford may just be desperate enough to do something foolish regardless, and Alyssa was hesitant to place herself in her power.
As the sun set on the third day of waiting, the Lords of the Westerlands arrived, covered in sweat, bruises and sore from their long, brutal ride. With them, chained hand and foot and bound to his horse, was Rickard Karstark, former Lord of the Karhold. Wiping perspiration from his brow, Lord Walder Serrett handed Karstark's reins to Alyssa, visibly slumping in his saddle as soon as he had done so. "Take him" the Lord of Silverhill gasped, close to collapse and Lady Alysanne hurried forward to offer rooms and food to the Western lords before they succumbed to fatigue or hunger.
Their wait over, Alyssa and her men resumed their journey at dawn the next day, Lord Walder accompanying them as the Westerlands representative to bend the knee to Joffrey. After a week's march, they crossed into her own lands, and she gave her soldiers leave to return to their homes whenever they wished, thanking them for their loyal service. That day, and for days afterward, men trickled away from the Tully host, eager to return to their homes, to their crops and to tell their stories. The men of Riverhold had covered themselves in glory these past two years, and many a man would mount his sword over the mantle to show to visitors, his armor kept on a stand in the corner ready for the day Lady Alyssa would call him to battle once more.
With Alyssa's army now disbanded, there was no reason to spend the extra day's travel needed to stop at Riverhold, and though many groaned at the news, Alyssa was firm in her desire to press on to Riverrun. Another week on the road saw them to the gates of House Tully's seat, and as Alyssa gazed at her family's castle, she felt a faint smile pull at her lips, despite everything. Leaving his men to camp on the other side of the moat along with the Freys, Ser Patrek brought his horse in beside Alyssa's and followed her over the drawbridge and under the gates, into the yard. Swinging down from her saddle, Alyssa tossed a coin to one of the stableboys, instructing him to take care of her mare, before striding across the yard headed for the Great Hall.
Behind her followed a sullen Arya, her niece still hoping her mother would grant her permission to return to Robb's side. For once in her life, Alyssa had allowed herself to be a coward, not having the courage to tell Arya of her brother's death, having hoped to put it off until they returned to Riverrun, where Arya would have her mother nearby to comfort her. Knowing her niece's skill and lethal intent, however, Alyssa made sure her weapons were close to hand.
At the doors of the keep, Ser Robin Ryger greeted them, bald head bowed low in greeting. "My ladies" he welcomed Alyssa and Arya. "Lord Edmure requires your presence in his solar urgently. As for you, Ser" he turned to Patrek, waiting patiently by Alyssa's side, "your chamber has already been prepared. If you will follow me?" The old captain of the guard left, followed closely by the heir to Seagard. Alarmed by Ser Robin's words, Alyssa made haste towards her brother's solar, Arya at her heels. She took the stairs two at a time, and was outside the room before she knew it.
The door swung wide at her touch, and Alyssa sucked in a breath when she saw not only Edmure, but Catelyn sitting in the room waiting for her. As her sister's face reddened with rage at the sight of her, Alyssa winced, knowing that she was about to reap what she had sown at Lannisport protecting her people. Her niece was about to learn the truth, and between an angry Catelyn in front and a soon to be vengeful Arya behind, Alyssa feared she may not leave the room alive. This would not be pleasant.
Arya closed the door, and Catelyn's fury exploded like wildfire. "You!" she screamed, finger pointed at Alyssa like a sword in her wrath. "How dare you show your face here after what you've done?" Before Alyssa could answer, she rounded on Arya. "And how can you betray Robb like this, standing next to her as if nothing were wrong?"
"Betray Robb?" scoffed Arya, sure her mother had gone mad. "Robb was the one who told me to go with her, I wanted to stay and fight with him, but no, he insisted I stay with Aunt Alyssa so she could protect me. I fought the Lannisters at Clegane's Keep, I don't need anyone to keep me safe!" She touched the hilt of Needle by her side, and Catelyn clenched a fist.
"Is it so easy for you to forget your brother's memory" wept Catelyn in despair. "Your brother is dead, and yet still you speak ill of him!"
"Dead?" Arya gasped, hand falling away from Needle in her shock. "What are you talking about?"
"How can you not know..." Catelyn began, before understanding flashed in her eyes and she whirled on her sister, still standing silently beside Arya. "You didn't tell her" Catelyn sneered, voice dripping in disgust. "Bad enough that you left Robb to die, but to not even have the courage to tell Arya?" Catelyn shook her head. "The septa was right all those years ago. Bastards are nothing but creatures of lust and sin, Father was a fool to let you live."
This was far beyond what Alyssa was willing to tolerate and she was just opening her mouth to respond when Catelyn knelt in front of Arya, holding her daughter's hands in her own. "Robb is dead, Arya" Catelyn regretfully informed the younger Stark, eyes still red with tears. "He died a week after you left Lannisport, cut down by his own bannermen, because she left him to fight the Lannisters on his own."
"Is it true?" Arya demanded, pulling free of Catelyn and staring directly up into her aunt's eyes. "Have you known that my brother was dead and not told me?" Seeing the truth in those blue orbs, Arya was unable to believe herself. "Why would you not tell me?"
"She didn't tell you because she may as well have killed him herself" spat a still furious Catelyn. "The moment your aunt took her armies home, she doomed your brother." Actually they were Edmure's armies and he had given his consent, but Catelyn had always been fonder of him than of her bastard sister, and it was easier to blame Alyssa than for Catelyn to admit that her beloved brother had betrayed her.
"Robb doomed himself" Alyssa replied calmly, hands folded in front of her yet near enough to her waist that she could draw swiftly at need. "He could have chosen to bend the knee just as we did, instead he decided to keep fighting a war he couldn't win in an attempt to save his father. I'm sorry to tell you this Arya" she stated, pain clear in every word she uttered, "but your father was a dead man the moment he was arrested. Only defeating the Lannisters in the field could have saved him, and that hope went up in flames with Stannis' fleet on the Blackwater."
The sound she had been ready for came at last, and even as Needle hissed from its scabbard, Alyssa's shortsword was there to meet it, the older woman half turning to her left to parry Arya's furious thrust. "You left him" Arya shouted in despair, lunging again. "You could have stayed and fought with him, you could have beaten them! We could have saved Robb, we could save Father, we could save everyone!"
"No". Wild-eyed, Arya spun to see her uncle standing there, face set like stone. "All you would have done was to throw away your own lives as well. Your brother gambled everything on a very small chance of victory when he intended to attack Casterly Rock" Edmure continued, "and as any man who has ever played dice knows, only a fool risks everything on long odds. His lords decided they didn't want to take that risk, when they were offered a chance to walk away from the table and go home."
Arya's hand shook, unable to believe that her brother had caused his own death. "But…" Unable to find the words, she merely sobbed at the death of the brother she had spent her childhood with. Memories of riding together, of climbing trees in the godwood and of having snowball fights flashed through her mind, moments she would never have again. As the impact of Robb's death truly struck Arya, Alyssa gently pried Needle from her hand and slid it back into its sheath, fearful that her niece would hurt herself without thinking in her grief.
Catelyn wrapped her arms around her daughter, and with a still furious glare at Alyssa, turned to leave only for her brother's voice to stop her in her tracks, hand on the door handle. "Stay". Edmure's voice was graver than it ever had been before, and all three ladies froze in their tracks. Weary as if the arguments and fighting had physically tired him, Edmure directed his sisters and niece to sit down. Only when all three were seated did Edmure sink into his own chair behind his desk and hold up a scroll of parchment.
"This arrived from King's Landing" he intoned solemnly, as if the very words pained him. "King Joffrey commands me to…" he hesitated, and Catelyn knew immediately it wasn't good. "To escort Lady Catelyn of House Stark to King's Landing, where she will face charges for treason, inciting war against the Riverlands, and violation of the King's Peace."
"What?" Arya burst out, hand reaching for Needle once more. "Mother's done nothing wrong, what does he mean, 'inciting war against the Riverlands?'"
"The Imp" Catelyn replied, voice dull as she stared down at the floor. "I seized Tywin Lannister's son, and he attacked the Riverlands as a result. Clearly the King has decided that I should bear the blame for this war as a result."
"That's stupid" Arya shouted, glancing between her uncle and aunt. "You can't be thinking about going along with this!"
"That was a royal command" Edmure replied, voice slow as he pointed at the stag and lion seal adorning the bottom of the parchment. "And the King was quite clear about the penalty for refusal. House Tully will be seen as traitors."
Arya couldn't believe her ears. "Mother is your sister" she appealed to her aunt, still emotionless, and then to her uncle, whose eyes flicked downward. "You have to know any trial will be fixed, if you hand Mother over, you're sending her to her death. She'll die"
"And if we don't" countered Alyssa, "then House Tully is once again in open rebellion. The Peace of Old Oak is shattered, and everything I fought to gain is gone. The Tyrells march their army on Riverrun, and we all die. Your mother, your uncle, me, you, and thousands of men, women and children across the Riverlands who had nothing to do with this, people House Tully is sworn to protect."
Edmure sighed, glancing to Alyssa in the hope that she could find them some way out of this. "You've been the one commanding our armies, Aly, if we do refuse, is there any chance that we could defeat them in the field if it comes to a fight?"
Under normal circumstances, a question like this would have had Alyssa seeking out her maps and thinking long and hard before answering, but without delay, she shook her head firmly. "None. The Tyrells have seventy thousand men, not to mention the other Kingdoms pledged to Joffrey, and I've just sent my own host back to their homes; it would take time to recall them. Even then" she placed a hand over her face in despair, "the Tyrells outnumber us heavily. Were we at full strength we couldn't match them, and Lord Tywin bled us heavily at the start of the war. We have ten thousand men left, mayhaps less, and Joffrey can summon five times that number without even trying." Eyes closed in regret, she turned to face Catelyn. "We can't defy the Crown openly and live. I'm sorry."
The Lord of Riverrun bowed his head, accepting his sister's words. "We can't bargain for her life either, we have nothing to trade. All the prisoners we have here are already to be freed as per the terms of the Peace, if we use any of them as hostages we break the Peace as effectively as if we refused. The only thing of value we have is gold" Edmure concluded, still bitter about the position Joffrey had placed him in, "but the King has the Lannisters backing him, he won't lack for coin. Even if he did, Cat is an accused traitor, to even offer looks like we're trying to buy her from the King's Justice."
"So what do we do?" Arya begged desperately, refusing to believe that giving her mother up was their only option. Despite her silent prayers to the Old Gods, her hopes were dashed when her uncle and aunt glanced between each other for moments, neither willing to speak.
"Cat…" Edmure began hesitantly at last, but his older sister rose from her place and stared him dead in the face, leaving him unable to speak.
"There's no need to apologize" she smiled, wrapping her arms around Arya and even as his eyes filled with tears, Edmure knew what was happening. Ever since her childhood, Catelyn Tully had been a creature of duty. Duty to House Tully, managing Riverrun after their mother died, and duty to House Stark, after her marriage to Lord Eddard, she had always done what was required of her. Now, for the sake of peace, for her brother's people, the Riverlands required her life. "Do what you must, Edmure."
Swallowing hard, Edmure wiped his face with the back of his hand, and then rang for a servant, who he then sent to summon Ser Robin to his solar. Silence filled the room for minutes afterwards, the only noise Arya's sobs as she embraced her mother, until Riverrun's guard captain arrived, shackles in his hands. At the sight of him, Arya pulled herself free and went for Needle, only for Catelyn's gentle hand to stop her in her tracks.
"No" Catelyn rebuked her daughter gently, rising to her feet and holding her arms forward for Ser Robin to bind. "This is my choice, Arya. Joffrey has your sister" she reminded her still stunned younger daughter, "and he could well decide that her head will do as well as mine should I refuse." Catelyn's eyes hardened into blue steel, the same look seen by many of Alyssa's enemies just before her blades claimed their life, and despite their differences, no man who saw the two now could have denied they were sisters. "What kind of mother would I be if I let Sansa pay for my mistakes?"
"My lord?" questioned Ser Robin, unsure of why he was called here.
Emotions warred within Edmure before his face hardened in resolve. "Place my sister under arrest, Ser Robin" he commanded, "for treason against the Crown. She will be taken to King's Landing with us, where the King will decide her fate."
"Your own sister" the old captain gasped! "Surely you jest, Lord Edmure!"
He looked to Alyssa, who schooled her features into a disapproving frown, unwilling to show anything less than a united front, knowing that if she appeared, even for a moment, to disagree with her brother's actions, those like Ser Robin would seize on the opportunity rather than arrest the beloved daughter of Riverrun. "My brother gave you a command, Ser" she reminded him, voice cold.
Slowly, giving his lord time to come to his senses, Ser Robin Ryger took the manacles in hand and reached out. Gently, for he had known Lady Catelyn all her life, he grasped her wrists and fastened the binds on her. Looking up to his lord in a last, desperate hope that this was all a dream, Ser Robin found his hopes dashed when Lord Edmure instead jerked his head towards the door. With the dignity that her station demanded, Ser Robin took Lady Catelyn by the arm and led her from the solar, taking her to her chambers.
As soon as the door closed, Edmure slumped down over his desk. "What have I done?" he moaned, hands pulling at his hair.
"What you had to" Alyssa replied, her own regret clear in her voice. She had no wish for Catelyn to die, but if it meant the Riverlands could finally return to peace, it was a price she was willing to pay.
The River's Shield.
It had taken years, but she finally understood the burden her father had been placing upon her shoulders when he asked the oath of her that he did, and why his lords had been so shocked at her ready acceptance. House Tully and the Riverlands were what mattered, and to protect them, there was no cost too high to pay. Catelyn may have been born a Tully of Riverrun, but her marriage to Lord Eddard made her a Stark, and she was of the North now. She was neither a Tully, nor a daughter of the Trident any longer, no longer Alyssa's sworn duty to protect and so Alyssa would sacrifice her to save those who were. It was that simple.
Remembering Arya still standing there, she turned and opened her mouth to comfort her niece, only for Arya to duck under her arm and run from the solar, barely holding in tears. Though Alyssa tried her best to find her niece and explain her actions, Arya knew Riverrun in a way that Alyssa never could despite her many visits, and she was unable to locate the wayward wolf cub before nightfall. At dawn next day, unable to delay any longer lest they risk Joffrey's wrath, the Riverlands forces were on the move again. Edmure accompanied them, his leaping trout banner flying proudly at the head of the party, while Alyssa's grey dolphin fluttered just behind it, none of Edmure's lords willing to gainsay her right to ride behind him.
Lord Karyl Vance had sent his men back to their homes before riding to Riverrun, and Lord Clement Piper had come from his seat at Pinkmaiden after his son had disbanded their army; but they were only two of Alyssa's companions. At Joffrey's command, Edmure had sent for his bannermen, summoning them to join him on his ride to King's Landing, where they would accompany him to the capital to swear their fealty to the King, and they had come, great and small.
Tytos Blackwood and Jonos Bracken had returned to Riverrun, and Alyssa stifled a groan of pure frustration as she beheld the Lords of Raventree Hall and Stone Hedge hurling hateful glances at one another even as they rode. With her father dead, her brother would now bear the responsibility of keeping the two quarreling Houses from wiping each other out, and Alyssa didn't envy him that task. Countless Lords Tully had tried to get the raven and stallion to end their feud; tried, and failed.
Even marriages had not sufficed to end the fighting, though no doubt her brother would try to arrange one again, Alyssa knew it was doomed to failure. Though both Lords had six children, the Seven had seen fit to grant Lord Jonos and his lady wife only daughters. Though Lord Jonos had fathered one son, a bastard named Harry Rivers, the boy had fallen fighting bravely along with the rest of House Bracken's garrison when Lord Tywin stormed Stone Hedge last year.
As a result of Harry's death, any marriage between House Blackwood and House Bracken would be weighted in favour of Blackwood, as the inheritance laws granted a lord husband rights to his wife's property; unless the terms of their marriage agreement forbade them to him, something Tytos Blackwood would never agree to. Jonos' grandchildren would be Blackwoods, all of them, and that was something Alyssa knew the proud Lord of Stone Hedge would see happen over his own dead body, or preferably, the Blackwood groom's.
Pulling her thoughts away from the feud between the two Houses which had proved so poisonous to the Riverlands in the past, Alyssa returned her attention to the road. It was a long way yet to King's Landing, and they had many leagues to go. East their path led, along the banks of the Red Fork, through lands sworn to House Tully, and then they passed into the territory of House Bracken. Here and there they passed men working in the fields, Lannister men, Alyssa knew, the results of her putting the prisoners to work. After over a moon's march, the host reached Lord Harroway's Town, where yet more of Edmure's lords were waiting to join him.
At near ninety name days, Lord Walder Frey was long past riding to the capital himself, so in his stead he had sent his eldest grandson Edwyn, heir to the Twins. With him came his brother Walton, an blunt soldier whose loyalty to House Frey was beyond question, who gruffly told Edmure that his father had commanded him to take their army home, as the coming peace meant that Lord Edmure had no further need of House Frey's forces. This Edmure allowed, with one request. That Lord Walder open House Frey's bridge to Ser Patrek Mallister, who would likewise be taking the men of Seagard back to his own lands.
Though House Frey would normally demand a high toll for such a crossing, the Mallisters were their neighbors, and with no pressing need requiring Ser Patrek to cross immediately, denying him or forcing him to pay unnecessarily would only serve to worsen relations between the two Houses for no reason. Edwyn agreed to support Edmure's request in front of his father, vowing to himself to ensure that Marianne Vance, granddaughter of his grandfather's second wife, was present when Ser Patrek made his request to cross.
House Frey was bound to the Tullys by marriage, and Lord Walder's grandson would one day rule the Riverlands, meaning anything that strengthened the Trident would provide a more stable realm for Edwyn's kin to hold. Ser Patrek was the heir to Seagard, and unmarried; Marianne was a maid, and a beauty. A marriage between the two would not only tie together Seagard and the Twins, but also the Twins and Wayfarer's Rest, as Marianne's father, Ser Dafyn Vance, was Lord Karyl's cousin.
In place of Ser Patrek, bidding a last wave of farewell as he rode off at the head of his host, was Lord Jason himself, come back from Seagard to bend his knee before the King. Alyssa was sure that such a gesture would go a long way towards showing House Mallister's loyalty to the Crown. The third lord present however, was someone Alyssa was not so glad to see. Matthias Vypren was Lord of Greenwater Bound only because Alyssa's folly at the Golden Tooth had cost the lives of not only all the Vypren men marching with her, but also his brother and nephew. Though House Vypren had received sixty thousand gold dragons as recompense for their losses, it was clear Lord Matthias was no friend of Alyssa's and the man with the black toad on his banner greeted her coldly.
The welcome was only slightly kinder from Lady Helaena Roote, who also had quite plainly not forgiven the loss of her son's men at the Golden Tooth. Still, she was courteous enough, as a noblewoman should, though her words were clearly empty. As for the Lords Paege and Hawick, they were polite enough, but Alyssa barely knew them, and they spoke little to her beyond the required greetings.
Without the need to wait for thousands of men on foot or ponderous supply trains the lords of the Trident made good time, and their horses ate up the road mile by mile, soon putting Harroway behind them. They stayed for a night at the inn at the crossroads, where Catelyn had seized the Imp and caused all this chaos. Alyssa watched her sister slump in her saddle, chained hands falling limp before her as she caught sight of the small building and remembered everything that had happened that day.
The innkeeper was dead now, Lord Tywin had had her hanged in her own yard as a lesson for any who would allow a Lannister to come to harm in their hall without lifting a finger, and her young nieces ran the inn. Though still girls of only eleven and twelve, they ruled their domain as effortlessly as a noble ran their castle, and accepted the lords coin in exchange for the finest rooms available. Catelyn herself shared Alyssa's room, Alyssa making do with a blanket on the floor so her sister could have the bed, and after a night of better sleep than they got on the road the party was moving again.
At the crossroads the River Road met with the Vale road and the kingsroad, and here the lords of the Trident turned south, following the kingsroad almost directly south to the capital. Their route now led through the lands formerly belonging to House Darry, now a legacy of the war as leagues after leagues of scorched fields and blackened earth met Alyssa's eyes. The Mountain's men had been merciless with their torches, Lord Tywin's orders having been to scorch the Riverlands from end to end, and Alyssa found herself once again thanking Lord Jason silently for putting an end to the brute. A small voice inside her head reminded her that she had done no differently at Ashemark, but she slammed it down ruthlessly.
Castle Darry itself still stood, it was difficult to fully destroy a castle unless you were willing to commit enormous amounts of men and time, as Alyssa had done at Ashemark, but the fires had done their work regardless. The gates were ash, iron studs lying scattered in front of the castle they formerly helped defend. Stables, steps, anything not stone had burned, and the small keep was blackened in places from the fire, with many of the surrounding buildings ruined shells. The extinction of House Darry had left this place lordless, and though Edmure's plans would soon see these lands, along with many of the surrounding holdings organised into new lordships, for now these lands lacked the rule of both lord and law.
The lords of the Trident kept their hands on their weapons, therefore, as they continued through the lands formerly under the banner of the plowman, before they passed into the fertile fields along the banks of the God's Eye that were the purview of Harrenhal. Two more days saw them in the shadow of Harren's black monstrosity itself, where the last of Edmure's bannermen had gathered to join them on their ride to the capital.
Lady Shella Whent herself greeted them, though Edmure's kinswoman was far too old to ride, she gamely promised that her horses were strong enough to keep up, even pulling her small wheelhouse. Lacking any of the decorations or heavy woods that made royal wheelhouses so slow, it could carry two seated tightly side by side, though little space was left for comfort.
With her was Norbert Vance, blind Lord of Atranta. One of House Tully's most faithful vassals despite his weakness, he had lost two sons in the Westerlands yet remained steadfastly loyal to the King of the Trident, and now the Lord of Riverrun. Tightly gripping his horse's reins though he may be, the old Norbert rode with the confidence of a man half his age. Lady Shella kindly offered Lord Vance the other seat in her wheelhouse, though Norbert was firm in his refusal. He was blind, not dead, and he would still ride while he was yet young enough to do so.
Shella accepted Vance's refusal with grace, turning swiftly under the pretence of needing to speak with Lord Edmure so she could avoid her offer being taken up by William Mooton, the Lady of Harrenhal unwilling to endure two weeks of sitting in close company with the cowardly Lord of Maidenpool, a man who she despised. Though Walder Frey was mocked as the 'Late Lord Frey' for his arrival at the Trident the day after the battle was fought, even the man's most vehement critics agreed that House Frey had more than redeemed itself for that shame in the recent years.
Freys had fought and died in countless battles, all in the name of defending the Riverlands, and with her kinsman and lord wedding Lady Roslin, Shella knew a new era for the Riverlands had begun. No more would House Tully have to beg and scrape for the Freys help, and with their massive forces at Riverrun's side, perhaps Edmure could actually get some control over the squabbling group of children formally known as his vassals.
Lord Mooton on the other hand, had not only arrived late but refused to join the war at all initially, an act that had not endeared him to his neighbours, and from the look that Edmure and his sister shot his way, Shella noted, House Tully had not forgotten. House Mooton controlled two thousand men, a force that might have made a difference in the Battle of the Red Fork, and yet Lord William had elected not to send them to aid his liege lord.
That in itself could be forgiven, after all, neither had the Freys, the Vyprens or the Rootes, but even when Lady Alyssa sent the call for men to aid her in relieving Riverrun, when she rode down the Kingsroad gathering the remaining Tully bannermen; at the moment when Mooton should have been marching his men to join hers, he still did nothing. Only when Hoster's daughter had lost her patience to the point that she threatened to have Mooton hanged for his treason, did Lord William see fit to stir himself and send his troops.
Seeing Shella's plight, the Lords Goodbrook and Ryger intervened, distracting Mooton with talk of the coming peace and the effects it would have on their lands. Though the three Houses shared a common enemy once; having sided with House Targaryen during the Rebellion along with the Darrys, after the war was over, Goodbrook and Ryger had made every effort to restore their relationship with House Tully. Lord Ryger's uncle even served as Captain of the Tully guards, a clear sign of the renewed faith House Tully had in the Rygers. Unlike Mooton, Goodbrook and Ryger had answered Edmure's call when it came, losing their hosts at the Red Fork as a result.
Even with Lady Shella's wheelhouse costing them mayhaps a mile per day, the gathered nobles made good time and after another fifteen days, Alyssa got her first look at the city of King's Landing. It was impressive, she gave it that, Aegon clearly having chosen the location of his capital well. The Riverlords entered the city through the Dragon Gate, the gate commander giving a wary look to the banners flying above the riders as he let them through. Nearby, Alyssa spotted Rhaenys' hill and the ruins of the Dragonpit atop it. Across the city, on Aegon's high hill, she could make out the imposing outline of the Red Keep, overlooking Blackwater Bay.
Catelyn rode proudly, all but unaffected by the chains binding her hands together, and though people gathered to see the prisoner being escorted through the streets, Alyssa's warning glare and tightly gripped sword had onlookers putting down the rotten fruit in favour of keeping their body parts attached. From the Dragon Gate they passed by the Dragonpit itself, the collapsed dome briefly giving Alyssa visions of the great beasts that once dwelled within it, and then along the Street of the Sisters towards the Great Sept of Baelor before turning south.
There, atop Aegon's High Hill, was the royal seat itself. Maegor the Cruel had executed every builder who ever worked on the Red Keep, so only he would know its secrets, and it was said that their blood had soaked into the castle's stones, giving it colour. Having shed the blood of countless men over the years, Alyssa knew that was false but the Red Keep certainly appeared fearsome. Built in the shape of the Faith's seven-pointed star, it had massive towers at each of its seven points, massive curtain walls topped by thick parapets bristling with archers, and great bronze gates capable of repelling rams for days.
Leaving their horses at the Keep's stables, they proceeded up the long, winding steps to the gates where they were met by one of the Kingsguard, Alyssa was unable to tell which with his helm closed. Strangely, the white knight did not demand their weapons and did nothing when Edmure made for the doors without disarming. Alyssa pondered that for a moment, before her eyes narrowed. They had been allowed to keep their arms, because the King was hoping they'd use them. He couldn't be any happier with this than the Riverlords were, and he was clearly hoping one of their party would give him some pretext to name them traitors once more.
Readying herself as Edmure grasped the handles of the doors, Alyssa breathed deeply. This was it, all she had to do was get through the next few minutes, and her people would be safe, the Riverlands would be safe. The crucial thing would be to ignore any provocation the King or his court may give, no matter the insult or claim, the Lords of the Trident must not react unless they had lawful cause to do so. They were few against many here, their armies long gone home, not to mention they were surrounded on all sides by swords loyal to the King. If they gave even the slightest excuse, all their heads would be on spikes before they could get out of the city.