A/N: Standard disclaimer here. I don't own ASOIAF and only write for fun.
Sybell Westerling
When Sybell looked out the window in her chamber she could see the moon falling and it was still dark out. The sun hadn't been close to rising over the eastern mountains so she wondered why those savages had roused her from her dreams.
She dreamed of the moment that Lord Tywin Lannister pushed Robb Starks head onto a block and chopped it off as easily as one would slice through bread. She dreamed of her brother being named Lord of Castamere, and the matches her son would receive. When this was all over, those same houses that whispered about her children being the descendants of up jumped merchants would be lining up to marry their daughters to her son. She would save them all from this so-called 'Young Wolf." They would shower her with praises.
Her father would be so proud.
"What is the meaning of this," she asked one of the savages, though she couldn't quite remember his name. Maybe it was Torrhen? Or Eddard was it? She didn't know, the two that tailed her the most were brothers and that's all she remembered.
"We ride today, my lady," one of them said in his thick northern accent. She hated everything about them. The way they talked, the way they walked, the way they ate, the way they drank… just everything. They were savages, all of them. They didn't deserve to be in the same presence as her. Still, she must play the game.
"Word has reached that Lord Tywin has is marching this way with his army," the other one said. "We must be gone long before he gets here."
"Good," she thought. They wouldn't be able to run for long, not with their numbers. They had something small like five thousand horse, and a few thousand foot soldiers. They would not be able to outrun Lord Lannister for long and she imagined that other houses would send what little soldiers they had garrisons they had to help capture them. Once Tywin Lannister crossed the Golden Tooth this little game Lord Stark was playing would be over.
"Light please," she smiled at the boys. "I wish I would have been told sooner and I would have had time to pack. When does Lord Stark wish to march?"
"By the end of the hour," one boy said. "Pack quickly if you must. Lord Stark has arranged a carriage for you and your younger children. Your husband and son will ride as honored guests in Lord Stark's party. They have been nothing but kind to Lord Robb and he considers your son his friend."
The knife would cut so deep. She felt for her children. Jeyne was truly starting to fall in love with the boy, and it seemed as if he was falling in love with her. He confided in her so easily, told her his thoughts and hopes and dreams. She claimed that he was so courteous, brave, and honorable behind any imagination and she believed her daughter. Robb Stark was all of those things.
Robb Stark was also a fool.
"I had a friend once," her father told her as a child, "he found comfort with local whores and often would tell them all his business after they fucked." Her father was a crass man. "When his enemies found out about his penchant for whores, they paid them more than he would for his secrets. It ruined him. Now he is some beggar on the streets of Lannisport."
"Why are you telling me this father," she asked him.
"Get Lord Westerling to tell you his secrets. Our lives will be better for it."
And so she did. That was when the proposal first happened. It hadn't even been official yet. Yet she managed to seduce Gawen Westerling and he slept with her before their marriage. The Westerlings were a proud and honorable family and so she became the lady of the Crag.
Robb Stark was different. The Starks had the reputation of being the most honorable house in all of the realm. Robb Stark would not sleep with her daughter, but that didn't bother her, but he still found comfort. He still told her secrets, and plans, and dreams.
How else would she know that his damned wolf had found a way into Casterly Rock and that he planned to take the Rock from the Lannisters from the inside out? How else would she know about his numbers, the composition of his armies, what he planned to do, how he planned to do it but most importantly when he planned it?
She was able to get word to Tywin Lannister via raven immediately. She was able to tell her liege Lord the Young Wolf's plans and hoped that he would be quick enough to counter it. So when the two northern idiots told her that Tyin Lannister was marching toward the Gold Tooth she was giddy. She could barely contain her excitement. This would be all over soon.
As a young child, her father would take her brother and her on trips to Lannistport. They would eat freshly baked bread with eggs, pork belly, and cheese. They would go to the docks and have fish for lunch while her father would set up shop to trade saffron, and salts, and peppers as well as any other spices he had. He had become quite rich doing so and they lived a good life.
So it had taken some time to get used to living at the Crag. House Westerling was a noble house sworn to Casterly Rock, one of Tywin Lannister's principal bannerman. Yet their fortunes had faltered. When she married into the house, she soon forgot what fresh fish and pork belly tasted like. It was soon replaced with hard-dried meats and grains. They used every part of the animal at the Crag, even the most undesirable parts.
As a child, suckling pork was a delicacy. At the crag, their idea of delicacy was cattle testicle and tongue.
It was a culture shock, to say the least, yet she endured. Her father was ambitious above all, working himself ragged, taking advantage of every opportunity that presented itself, and it had worked. She was Lady Westerling after all. Her brother was the castellan of the Crag, yet she wanted more and more would soon come.
Still, if she had to say one thing kind about the northern savages that took over her home… Their food reminded her of her childhood. When Robb Stark rose from his injury they threw as great of a feast as she ever saw. They ate honeyed chicken and smokes pork with onions covered in gravy. They drank ale and wine and sand loudly. They laughed and loved, and were a boisterous bunch, yet by the next morning they were as fit as they were before, almost like the ale and mead didn't affect them.
As she stepped up the stairs to the large carriage that they had provided, she was reminded of their generosity. They had eaten more lavishly with the Northmen than all of the years she lived at the Crag without them, and her carriage was no different. It had fresh bread and cheese, and the pork? She could smell it as soon as she stepped into the yard. If she wasn't a lady she would have drooled.
Yet she kept her composure, there was still a game to play.
"I hope everything is to your liking, my lady," the voice of Robb Stark surprised her from behind. She turned quickly on him and froze. The site of his monstrous beast frightened her. If it wasn't for that beast she might have killed the boy by now, but everywhere he went his wolf was not far behind.
"You are too generous my Lord," she said, her courtesy and manners were perfect. He smiled broadly at her.
"Anything for you my lady," the boy said. "If you have any need while we ride, please make one of my men aware. They have been instructed to make sure your journey is one of the utmost comforts. Nothing is too small."
"I thank you for your consideration, my lord," Sybell responded. The boy had always been kind to her, but she knew it was all an act. All of this was. The northerners were as savage and wild as the stories said. She heard the stories from Oxcross. How easily they talked about slaughtering good men. Their time would come, and it would come soon.
It took them four days to reach Ashemark and another nine days to reach Casterly Rock. For the most part, their days remained the same. By the time they woke up in the morning, their carriage was already moving, and if she looked out the window she could see the West past her by.
The guards would bring her and her family something to eat for breakfast, and on most days, Jeyne would be invited to ride with Robb Stark. It took four days before she learned anything useful from her daughter.
"Robb says that Lord Tywin has almost reached the Red Fork. He says that there is a small garrison there to stop him, but it isn't enough to delay him for long. I worry for him, mother. He says that the Lords of the Vale have joined Lord Lannister and that they march West with a force of thirty thousand strong."
She barely could stop herself from smiling, instead, she frowned. "That is awful dear. What does he plan to do?"
"He still thinks he could take the Rock," her daughter smiled hopefully at her. She was naive, but Sybell loved her so. She would always love her. This would be as harsh of a lesson that the girl ever learned.
"Let us hope that he is right," she responded. "If he can take the rock without Tywin Lannister knowing how he did it, then he would be able to hold it for a long time. Long enough for his cousin to possibly send help this way."
"Oh I hope so mother," Jeyne pleaded, her eyes wide with a childlike lust of the boy. It saddened her that she would have to break her daughter's heart, but the good of their family was more important. One day she knew that her daughter would understand.
Something was wrong.
They camped outside of Casterly Rock for a day before they packed up and moved, just like they had every morning. This time they turned East and rode along the Goldroad toward Deep Den. She had taken this same road many times as a child. Her father once took them to King's Landing in an attempt to try to sell his spices and goods there.
She hated the city. It smelled of rotting cattle carcass and manure. The people stunk. The food wasn't near as good as Lannisport. Her father had to stop her from eating a stew she purchased for fear that one of the ingredients was missing body parts of local beggars that had gone missing. She was more than happy when they were traveling back west along the Goldroad again.
Her brother was the one that broke the news to them, as Jeyne hadn't been out riding with Robb yet to know.
"Change of plans," he whispered as he entered the carriage. Her children, including Jeyne, were still asleep. "Lord Stark doesn't think he has enough men to take the Rock in time so we will travel east along the Goldroad. Ser Tully's scouts have found a place that they think they can hold."
"What fools," Sybell whispered back. "With numbers these low? They would be idiots to think that seven thousand men could hold against an army of thirty thousand."
"And Deep Den is behind them," her brother smiled at her. "They are going to pinch themselves between two forces and don't even know it. Lord Lydden may have as many as a thousand men garrisoned there. If Lord Tywin can get word to them, they could take the boy from behind easily. It's almost over now Sybell. Soon our work will have paid off."
A few days later, her brother was stuck with them in the carriage. Lord Stark had thought that her brother needed the rest. It was nonsense, of course, and it meant that she lost one set of eyes and ears while on the road, but it was good to have other company than her children.
Her brother complained about it, loudly at times, but Lord Stark was firm. Her brother was to stay in the carriage with her and the children.
A week past that, they had started to enter the valley, as her father called it. It was the place where hills turned into mountains and the Goldroad parted it all, forming a wide path down the middle. She remembered climbing those same hills and mountains with her brother and father. When you reached the top, there were several was a clearing hidden by trees and rock that traveled all the way east of the Goldroad where it ended at the tallest tower of the castle Deep Den. If you looked across the clearing, you would see the same thing on the other side facing the south.
It was a smart ambush spot, so she had to give Lord Stark credit for that, but it also confirmed everything she knew about the Young Wolf. He was an idiot. The trap he was trying to set didn't make sense. He would need archers, something that he didn't have a lot of, to ambush the Lannister army from the clearings. Down on the road, his men would have to hold a line to stop the Lannisters from advancing. Robb Stark did not have the men for that.
Also, Deep Den would be a two-day ride from there to break the line from the east. He was trapping himself.
She had happy dreams that night.
Soon her son would marry the daughter of some rich Lord and they could use the dowry to help rebuild as well as the gold that her brother would get from Castamere to help rebuild the Crag. Their name would go down in history as the house that toppled the Starks.
She even told her brothers that when this was over they should change their house words to Winter is Coming as a jest.
Everything was falling in place.
Something was seriously wrong.
The small number of northern archers they had hadn't stopped to camp in the mountains. The army didn't stop to form a camp so that they could hold any line.
Instead, they continued traveling east along the Goldroad toward Deep Den. She didn't know what was going on. Robb Stark had stopped calling for her daughter to ride with them. They weren't allowed to leave the carriage besides to relieve themselves. Suddenly she found they were being treated like prisoners.
When the carriage finally stopped the second evening, she could hear loud voices but it was an hour or so before anybody came to retrieve them.
It was the same brothers that guarded her at the Crag who finally opened the carriage doors and let them out. The carriage sat inside the small yard that was inside the outer walls, but she knew this castle.
Its shape was peculiar, to say the least. The outer wall was built into the mountains and was built in such a way that there was no rear entrance. The front-facing outer wall of the castle was small length-wise, no longer than the waist-deep pond that sat in front of it, about a hundred-fifty feet long but made up for the length with its height. The east-facing outer wall was about a hundred feet tall while the watchtowers that were built in the south and northeast corners were a hundred fifty feet tall.
The outer castle wall that faced the northern mountains was four times as long and the one facing east. It ended with the tallest tower on the outer wall in the northwest corner which was about two hundred feet tall. It was built in such a way that it could see out over the clearings that ended at the wall should anyone would try to attack from them.
The gatehouse had a large drawbridge that dropped over a large pond. The pond was deep enough that men and horses could not travel through it easily to attack the walls of the castle once the bridge was lifted. Her father told them that the pond fed the Silverhill river through an underwater cavern, which meant that the pond was full of fish that the people of Deep Den could harvest.
The castle acted much as the Golden Tooth did. It was defended by mountains to the north, and at the top of that mountain sat Hornvale While House Brax had a path down the mountain to help defend Deep Den if needed, the path was narrow and took a while to travel down due to the twist the and turns it made down the mountain.
If the outer walls were well garrisoned, the castle would be hard to take no matter which way you attacked it. If you attacked from the front, you would have to travel through a waste deep pond before you reached the gatehouse to breach the walls.
That meant that the only way to attack it was if you traveled along the goldroad and tried to breach the north-facing wall. Six hundred archers usually sat on top of that wall facing the goldroad. Charging it would be suicide.
Yet the ramparts that used to fly the white badger of House Lydden now flew the gray direwolf of House Stark and the silver trout of House Tully. She paled when she first saw the banners. There was no way they could have taken this castle unless it was some form of trickery.
"Lord Stark wishes to invite your family to dinner my Lady," one of the boys that opened the carriage finally spoke. "If you will follow me to the great hall."
She didn't have a choice.
The actual castle inside the walls wasn't that big. It was a modest castle built partially inside the mountains where House Lydden held their mines. It was bigger than the Crag but smaller than some of the other castles in the West she had been to in the years traveling with her father. It didn't take long to push past the tall wooden doors and into the keep itself.
When they reached the hall, she heard a voice she never heard before, as northern and savage as any she had ever heard.
"They have my father, cousin," the voice was that of a woman and then the two brothers opened the door, Sybell could see that she was taller than any woman she had ever seen, yet her face was long and her hair was brown. They said that the Young Wolf looked more like a Tully than a Stark, so she supposed this is what a true Stark must have looked like.
"Patience my little wolf," Robb Stark responded to the girl who huffed at him as if she was insulted. She was not little. "Reports say that Baelish took him to Kings Landing. I am confident that Jon will rescue him especially…"
It was then that Robb Stark had realized they entered the room and paused. He looked at her, his direwolf to his right side of him staring blankly at them, and shrugged. He decided to continue. "Especially because we hold Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella. My father knew where they were being taken. We were able to capture the valuable hostages effortlessly. Uncle Benjen is safe as long as we hold King Joffery's father, his sister, and his brother and heir."
She couldn't stop herself. She gasped rather loudly, and her hand flew to her mouth. There was no way the boy was telling the truth right? She could feel her stomach growing uneasy.
"I do apologize, my lady," Robb said turning to her, "Where are my manners? I would like to introduce you to my cousin Marna Stark. She has been helping me win this war."
"Nice to meet you, my lady," she responded, but her voice cracked. It was the first time in a long time that someone had her flustered.
"Robb," her daughter spoke up, "What's going on? I haven't seen you in a couple of days."
Robb sighed having the grace to look guilty. He didn't answer her and instead turned away. "Torrhen, could you fetch Lord Westerling and Ser Raynald? It is time that I properly thank House Westerling for their service. We wouldn't be here without them after all."
"Aye," Torrhen responded and left the hall.
Robb Stark unsheathed his sword before taking a rag that was in a bucket next to the chair. He couldn't look at them so instead, he distracted himself by cleaning his sword. Even in all her travels with her father, she never saw Valyrian steel before. The sword was dark and smoky and had to be at least six feet long. It was bigger than the boy himself, yet he wielded it like it was as light as a feather."
"Robb?" Jeyne called again, and again she was ignored.
"Do you need me for this?" Marna's lips curled into a satisfying smirk.
"No," Robb replied. "I don't need your snide remarks and besides you never could take anything seriously. You would distract me."
"I take it that you can handle things should these people get too rowdy?"
"I was trained by Ser Arthur Dayne," the boy responded flatly. "If I can't handle three knights and a bunch of women and children then I might deserve to die. Besides, Greywind is here."
Marna Stark laughed. "Aye."
Marna left them in silence that was broken by the arrival of Sybell's son and husband.
"What is the meaning of this Lord Stark?" her husband asked. "Your men have had us disarmed and commanded that we dine with you."
Robb sighed again before talking. "Sit, eat," he gestured toward the food. "I beg of you."
There was a long wooden table for eight set up for them with food that was piled high and enough drink that would quench the thirst of twenty men. When Robb Stark didn't speak again, they all say down and began to eat awkwardly and the Young Wolf looked down upon them, his eyes sad, his mouth fixed with a frown, yet his hands quickly polished his sword.
She grew tired of this insult and she slammed her hand on the table, her anger shining through. "What is the meaning of this!?"
His eyes weren't sad anymore. They were cold with unyielding fury as he gazed upon her with a small smirk. "There it is," he said. "My father told me that you southerners liked to play games. I began to wonder how long it would take before you snapped."
"Robb?" Jeyne questioned again. "What is happening right now?"
Robb sighed again, the sadness back on his face. "Where to begin? I do want you to know that I am sorry Jeyne. How unfortunate it is to be you because I could have loved you. I could've watched the whole world burn to see you dance. A Kingdom might have meant nothing to me should you have been mine. Yet…" his voice faded. "Ask your mother what is happening. She probably has figured it out by now? Am I right Lady Spicer?"
Her husband stood to defend her, but the great beast rose from his position next to the boy and let out a threatening growl. Her husband paled, not that she could blame him.
"I like you Lord Westerling and your son. You're simple folk. You don't live above your means and strive to be great as you can without taking advantage of people. You work hard, you're fair to your subjects. Too bad, your wife is not the same. Do you care to speak my lady? Or should I tell them for you?"
She wouldn't give him the satisfaction, so the boy spoke.
"First I would love to tell you a story, a northern story, but a grand tale nonetheless. When my father returned home from Robert's rebellion one of his first actions was to integrate the Free Folk from beyond the wall. It took years, but with that successful integration came a special talent. Skin-changing we call it? Do any of you want to take a guess?"
"The ravens," she gasped, her voice barely above audible for the room to hear.
"Aye," Robb responded. "Some of my people can transport their mind into that of animals. Ravens, rats, cats, dogs, you name the animal, I have the man or woman that can do it."
She took a deep breath, her mouth sucking in the air. She never realized it was hanging open.
"Which means that the nights you and your brother plotted Lady Spicer? I heard them. The letters you sent to Lord Tywin? The ones that promised my head, the ones that promised that you would lead me into a trap? I read them! I stole your husband's seal easy enough, so I was able to close them back up and send them right to him. I knew everything you were doing."
"You used me," she said. "You lied to my daughter and gave her false information knowing that she would tell me and that I would tell him. You are leading Tywin Lannister into a trap."
Jeyne was crying by now, tears falling freely from her eyes and she realized that the boy never truly loved her. At least he had the grace to look ashamed about it.
"You picked the wrong side, my lady," Robb answered, "and it's so unfortunate because I liked your daughter. I would have made her Lady of Winterfell. I would have found your son a nice northern woman to marry. Given your brother lands if that is what you wished. Everything that Tywin Lannister promised you, I would have given you… and you would have betrayed me anyway."
"How could you possibly know that?" Sybell responded defiantly. "If you would have made those offers…"
"You traveled a lot in your youth, right? My maester was very thorough when it comes to the houses of the realm. He said that your father was a spice merchant who got rich. That he managed to marry you to Lord Westerling."
"I did travel a lot," she half-answered.
"In the docks of Lannistport did you ever hear stories of people with greensight or the ability to have green dreams?"
"Nonsense," she responded. "Those are just tales."
"Yet they say the Targaryens escaped the doom because Daenys dreamt of it. It's a rare and once-in-a-generation ability my lady. It so happens that my father possesses this ability. He saw that you would betray me in his dreams. In his dreams, I made your daughter Queen of the North! Yet you sold me to the Freys for a lordship while feeding your daughter moon tea. I refused to let it happen. I destroyed the Freys, and I have used you to destroy the Lannisters."
"I am nothing but loyal to my liege lord. Where is that a crime? You savages came to our lands, invaded our castle, and did whatever it is that you pleased!"
"Which brings me to my problem," Robb sighed. "You are right. You are loyal to House Lannister. I would hope that in the same situation that one of my bannermen would be just as loyal so I can't punish you. I refuse to, out of the respect that I have for your daughter, your husband, and your son. Besides, it isn't my job to punish you. Soon this war will be over and I will go back to Winterfell where I belong."
Her brother laughed before speaking "You're not going anywhere. This great plan of yours is as foolish as the rest of your men. Do you think that your seven thousand men can face thirty thousand from the West and the Vale and live to tell the tale? Your as dumb as you look," her brother sneered.
"Have you not been paying attention Ser?" Robb Stark laughed. "I lied to you. My father has been lying to the realm for years! Seven thousand men? The carriage must have dropped you off inside of the walls. There are twenty thousand men from the north and Riverlands outside the outer walls. Two thousand weirwood arches line those ridges, a thousand on each side, waiting for Lord Tywin to fall into my trap. When he meets my wall at the foot of the Valley? Another fifteen thousand will descend from behind him, trapping him there. It will be a slaughter Ser."
He laughed again as her brother paled. "I had to make it convincing. I sat outside the crag with seven thousand men while the rest of my army went and took other castles. Crakehall, Tarbeck Hall, Deep Den, Sarfield.. you get the point. Deep Den was the hardest because my men had to scale the tallest tower… but what is two hundred feet when they grew up scaling seven hundred? The Wall is bigger."
"The castles, they are all mine, but the credit belongs to Balon Greyjoy," he continued. "You see when he stupidly attacked the North, we crushed his fleet. My father sent a raven and suggested since they were gone, we could transport more men from the North to Seagard. I was much more ambitious. I knew we had Crakehall. The ships sailed far enough west where Lannisport didn't see them and now another fifteen thousand men led by my uncle Edmure await word that Twyin rides east along the Goldroad. He will catch them from behind, form another line and my weirwood arches will rain hell down upon Lord Tywin's army where they will either surrender or die."
"And the beauty of it," his tone was softer now. "The beauty of it is that I have you to thank Ser Raynald. I have you to thank Lady Spicer. You told Tywin Lannister exactly what I wanted you to tell him. See, the point of this is allowing my brother Jon to take the capital unopposed. Lord Lannister was supposed to be held at Harrenhal until after the war was over and we all could converge on him there to force him to surrender."
"Lord Baelish ruined those plans," she whispered.
"Precisely," the boy responded, somehow hearing her, "and now we are here. I hate to do it Jeyne, Ser Raynald, Lord Westerling, but you have to understand. You are my prisoners now. I will not harm you. You will be treated well with all the food you can eat and all the drinks you can drink. When this is over you can go back home and I will reward you for the part your wife and castellan played in this. Gold, food, grain! Never let it be said that House Stark isn't anything but generous!"
"Savages," she spat. "All of you. What do you think will happen to us when the new Lord of the West rises? What do you think will happen to my children that you claim to care for?"
His eyes were empty now. His voice cold, his emotions void. "It's not my problem anymore. Enjoy your meal."
He rose from his chair and sheathed his sword before he and his monstrous beast left the room. It was silent for a while before she let out a loud sob.
Her father would not be proud.
AN: Another one bites the dust.
I wanted to take this time to explain some things. First, I got a review that told me that the Vale would never follow Petyr Baelish against the North. I happen to disagree. Here is a quote from Geroge himself after the flayed man asked him about the said topic;
"Flayed Man: finally (i know you are busy and all) as of your personally thinking the lords of vale they are friendly to starks and tullys as if they are brothers and there are lords who are "itching" to get pieace of lannisters and want to help robb. Also tell me how friendly are they with robb right now (how the lords of vale feel about robb).
George: The lords of the Vale are numerous. As with any large group, their views vary.
George: "Brothers" overstates the case, but certainly Ned made friends during his years in the Eyrie... so did Robert, however, so some of the Vale houses would be just as well disposed toward Baratheon as toward Stark.
George: Do some of them want to join Robb? Certainly. Most notably Bronze Yohn Royce. Others, however, want no part of the war, and some may even favor the other contenders."
So as you can see, it's not that simple. Some of those Lords loved Robert too. I find it easy to believe that Peter Baelish could convince them that the Starks were lying and add in the fact that Ned Stark is currently trying to put a Targaryen on the throne...
Anyways, I decided that I would do this chapter from a different perspective than Robbs. There are so many highs and lows in the chapter emotionally, I hope I wrote it all well.
In terms of Deep Den, there isn't an actual description that I can find other than it was next to the Goldroad, and had a Pond in front. I hope that I explained what it looked like visually in my head in a way that made sense! Let me know!
Battle of the Blackwater next? Idk if I actually will write a battle of Tywin getting smoked. It seems redundant at this point, but let me know if you want me to attempt it!
As always, thank you for all the likes, reviews (over 1400!), messages, etc. I really do appreciate it!
Until next time!
Young!